


The Cost of Vengeance

by Kenma_applepi



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Determined Gon Freecs, Gon Teaching Feitan, Hunter X Hunter Spoilers, Hunter x Hunter Chimera Ants Arc, No Romance, Op Gon Freecs, Phantom Troupe Member Gon Freecs, Powerful Gon Freecs, Spiders, phantom troupe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:07:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 26
Words: 32,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29572956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kenma_applepi/pseuds/Kenma_applepi
Summary: Kite died and Gon was desperate for revenge.  He turned to the only people he knew could actually help him kill the Chimera Ants.  He couldn't think of any other way to leave Killua behind so he shut off his emotions like he'd seen Killua do before killing an enemy.This is probably not fully compliant with canon information, but it was requested and sounded really interesting to write so I hope that you enjoy it.  Please note that I have not finished hxh so I might get some information wrong, and I'm not fully sure how nen works so... I'm sorry.  Please leave criticism in the comments.Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter, those credits go to Yoshihiro Togashi.
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This is a repost from my Wattpad account :) @Kozume_Games I take almost any kind of commission, though it might take me a little while. Don't ask about the Hisoka and Gon thing, it was a whole ordeal involving a weird request and grossing out my friends but whatever it was aged up so...

Kite was dead. That was the last straw for Gon. The string of sanity snapped and not even Killua could bring him back from this. As they returned to the hotel they were staying at, Killua announced that he was going to go get food. Gon nodded silently as he kept walking up to their room. He packed up his belongings quickly and pulled his phone. He dialed the number that he'd told himself he'd never use. It rang three times before someone picked up and a gruff, "Hello," could be heard. Gon sighed before responding. 

"Hey Nobunaga, it's Gon... I accept your offer. I will join the spiders as Hisoka's replacement if in return you all will help me kill the chimera ants." 

Nobunaga laughed slightly before telling Gon to meet him in the back of a store a few towns over. Gon agreed and hung up. He found a pen and paper and began writing a letter to Killua.

_Killua, if you're seeing this, that means that I followed through. Chances are that you will never see me again. But that's okay, you'll be better off without me risking your life. Go and be with Kurapika and Leorio. Fight your family and promise me you won't shut down like I'm going to do when I finish writing this. Be better than me, okay. You are my best friend and I'm really sorry for doing this, but I need revenge for Kite and everyone else who's died on my behalf. Please tell Kurapika that I'm sorry and tell Leorio that he was right. I am too young to handle this. I will destroy the chimera ants, even it requires a deal that I never thought I'd have to make. Thank you for being the greatest friend I could've asked for. Thank Kurapika and Leorio for me too. Please don't go looking for me. I don't want you to see me like that. I won't be the same Gon as you saw. The me writing this letter is gone now. I'm so sorry Killua, please forgive me._

At that point, the paper was covered in tear stains. With that, he grabbed his fishing pole and bag and left out the window. He ran to the town he was told to and settled into the back of the store. He waited for a half-hour before Nobunaga came and stood with him. 

"So, you changed your mind. What happened to the high and mighty hunter?" 

He laughed but Gon looked completely unamused with him. If Nobunaga were being honest with himself, which he most certainly wasn't, the numb, emotionless, expression in Gon's eyes was unsettling, if not a little scary, especially on him. He kept his composure but quickly stopped laughing. 

"Alright, let's go then. Chrollo was ecstatic when I told him you'd accepted."

Gon nodded as he followed Nobunaga out of the store and to a train station. Neither party said a word as they walked. 

"It's a ways away. It's going to take two trains to get to the new base, probably about three hours minimum to get there."

Gon gave a quiet hum in response, the most noise he'd made since he'd spoken with the elder over the phone. Just like he'd seen Killua do, he turned off his emotions, limits, and morals. He turned off his ability to care about anyone, including himself. He was gone and he didn't want to come back. 


	2. Chapter Two

Gon had become a mortifying presence, making even Nobunaga a bit apprehensive. The others on the train were putting as much distance between them and Gon as they could. Gon looked ready to kill if needed, despite Nobunaga's efforts to act and look normal. Gon pulled out his phone as it started vibrating incessantly in his pocket. It was Killua, begging to know where he was, and why he wasn't answering his calls or messages. Gon smirked as he crushed the phone in his hand. He said nothing as Nobunaga gave him a questioning look, that bordered on concern. Once they reached their first stop Gon went into a shop. He bought a new phone and outfit. He go a grey shirt that was skintight and black sweatpants. He went to the bathroom to change and fix his hair. He let it fall around wherever before walling out to find scissors.

He found a pair and starting cutting haphazardly. It turned out well, falling around to mostly hide his eyes and frame his face. He went out to find Nobunaga waiting on the next train. He was tapping his foot impatiently when Gon approached. 

"Finally, you-"

He opened his eyes, gaping at Gon.

"You look different, less child-like." 

Gon looked at him with an eyebrow quirked up.

"Well, if I'm joining the Phantom Troupe I don't want to look nice and incapable of murder."

Nobunaga scoffed at him, "It's worked pretty well for Shalnark." 

Gon shook his head but didn't say anything. He leaned his head back against the window and closed his eyes. He leaned his head back against the window and closed his eyes. He seemed to be asleep to everyone on the train. The passengers, including Nobunaga, visibly relaxed. Gon was not asleep, but rather, thinking up different plans to exterminate the Chimera Ants. He had a decent outline ready to present to the spiders when they were going to attack. 

Once the train stopped Gon stood up immediately, shocking everybody else. He walked off the train, ignoring the dizzy spell threatening to engulf him. He leaned against a wall, waiting for Nobunaga to take them to the spiders' hideout. After 20 minutes of walking, they entered an old storage building. Gon stayed deadly silent as they walked. They went through several hallways before entering a large room with people in it. 

Gon recognized Phinks, Feitan, Shizuku, and Shalnark, but couldn't name the others. Chrollo emerged from seemingly nowhere and smiled at Gon. He didn't return the smile given, instead choosing to lean against the far wall. He closed his eyes for a moment before looking at Chrollo once more. 

"Hiding out in one of your fakes? Smart, I'll give you that."

At that Feitan lunged at Gon, grabbing him tightly. 

"How did you know? We not tell you that." 

Gon pulled himself out of Feitan's grip with ease. Phinks and Shalnark looked shocked, nobody had ever done that, being either unable to or just too scared to try. 

"It's rather obvious, the fakes put off an aura. A very obvious aura."

Feitan scoffed as he went back over to where he was previously sat with Shalnark and Phinks. He was mumbling to himself as he walked. Everyone started using gyo but still couldn't see the aura emitting to Gon so clearly. Chrollo looked Gon over before asking him questions to determine his loyalty. Gon stared at him blankly and void of emotion as he answered each one without hesitation. Finally, Chrollo asked his final question.

"You do know that joining us means that you are one of us? Even after we've helped you kill the Chimera Ants?"

Gon's expression didn't change when he responded.

"I am perfectly fine with those terms."

Everyone was shocked that Gon didn't even try to negotiate a time for him to leave. At the same time though, the look in his eyes made it obvious that he couldn't care less about anything other than his revenge. Once upon a time, Gon was a strong kid, now he was a horrifying member of the renowned Phantom Troupe. Things changed so much over time, but even Gon was struggling to comprehend what he had gotten himself into by taking the hunter exam in the first place. 


	3. Chapter Three

After settling in and learning where he fits in best, Gon was ready to set his plan in motion. He came up with a new one that would better fit his groups' capabilities. He was going to take Feitan, Shalnark, and Chrollo to the NGL to find the Chimera Ants and make sure that they weren't going to need backup. He was laying in bed waiting for someone to come get him to leave. He laid in the same position, on his back looking straight up, for the next two hours. Shalnark eventually came in and told him that they were ready now. 

Gon grabbed a knife that he'd taken on his way there and left his room silently behind Shalnark. Chrollo had gotten a car to drive them to the city Gon had been staying at with Killua. It would take a while to get there so Gon was assuming that Killua would already be gone. He was sitting silently in the back of the car while they drove. Chrollo and Shalnark took turns driving so the other could sleep in case they had to fight. Gon wasn't tired whatsoever so he just sat in the back with Feitan. 

He could tell that despite his previous trepidation, Feitan was warming up to him slowly. He wasn't glaring at him anymore, which was progress. Gon was silent for the entire night that they drove, playing a game on his phone. The next morning as they stopped so Chrollo could rest while Shalnark drove, Gon sensed something near them. He brushed it off but stayed on guard while they drove. After a few hours of having that suspicion, he spoke up.

"Someone's following us. They have been the last switch."

Feitan and Shalnark both looked at him like he was crazy.

"You are wrong. We have en on now. Have had it the whole time."

Feitan spoke before looking down, probably embarrassed at his poor Japanese.

"Okay, but if we all die here I am going to kill you in the afterlife."

Gon leaned over to Feitan after Shalnark turned back towards the road. He put a hand on his shoulder.

"You don't speak Japanese as your first language, so it's okay if you're not fluent. It's difficult to master a new language, so quit beating yourself up over it. For someone who kills people for fun, you're so insecure."

Feitan smiled at the last sentence, not that anyone could see it under his mask. It was comforting to have someone other than Shalnark and Phinks to build him up. Even when he was shut down, Gon was still too nice to not like. He was always going to be the person to build others up, no matter what he did to make himself a bad person. That wasn't a bad thing, even to the members of the Phantom Troupe. What they didn't know was that the person following them could also hear them perfectly. 

They remained quiet for the next few hours until something hit the top of the car. Gon and Feitan jumped into action, going out the windows to meet the enemy. Chrollo got his book ready for a fight and Shalnark continued driving, pulling out his phone and needles just in case he had to step in. 

Gon and Feitan landed gracefully on the top of the car to find nobody there. Gon could sense whoever was there. He focused on where the feeling was coming from and moved towards it. He reached out and grabbed the figure before it could dodge. When he grabbed it, the invisibility was removed as well. 

Gon stood there looking shocked but otherwise unaffected by the new face. 

"You shouldn't have come here Killua."

"Gon snap out of it. This isn't you, you are my best friend and you have to come back to me... Y-you can't just leave me after everything."

"Sorry, Killua but this is me now, I needed revenge and this is who I knew could help me. We failed and now I'm taking matters into my own hands. It's time to show Neferpitou who's stronger. You need to leave."

Gon had no feeling in his voice. He had gone completely monotonous and Killua couldn't stand it. He started crying right there. 

"You will get over it one day. Make new friends, I was a terrible friend to you anyways. Read the letter I gave you and fulfill the wishes in it. Then you can know that the old Gon didn't die for nothing."

With that, he flipped Killua off the car and into a nearby tree. He hopped back through his window and laid his head against the headrest. He thought about going to sleep but thought better of it, seeing as Killua might try again and he's apparently the only one who can sense him coming. 


	4. Chapter Four

They continued their drive as if nothing had happened. Gon was still on guard for a few hours. After a while Killua's presence died off, so assuming he left, Gon let his guard down partially. Upon looking up he saw that both Chrollo and Shalnark looked pretty exhausted, even with the switches. He looked over at Feitan to see him looking at them too.

"Move Shalnark, I drive now."

"Hahah can you reach the pedals?"

A quick slap to the back of the head shut him up fairly quickly. He didn't get out of the driver's seat either way.

"We'll be there soon, I can drive that much longer."

Gon looked out the window to see that they were in fact getting pretty close. 

"Stop... From here it's near impossible terrain to drive on, it'll be faster on foot. Shalnark, you and Chrollo can go to sleep for a bit before we continue. Me and Feitan will stand on guard."

Feitan looked at Gon before nodding his head once, understanding from the glint in his eye. Chrollo and Shalnark nodded once before moving to lay down in the back of the car. They fell asleep after about twenty minutes. Gon and Feitan were discussing who would carry who and didn't notice the approaching darkness. When Feitan looked up and saw them sleeping soundly he pointed them out to Gon.

"We should go. Darkness make good cover."

Gon nodded and walked past Shalnark to pick up Chrollo, hopefully without waking him up. He was careful when placing him in his arms, not to disturb the sleep that he had clearly been skipping for a while. Feitan did the same thing for Shalnark. It was a rather funny sight to see the small boys carrying people almost, if not completely, double their size. Despite the size difference, the two were having virtually no trouble carrying them at all. Gon was having a much easier time with keeping Chrollo still than Feitan was with Shalnark. Nonetheless, he refused to switch with Gon. They made it to the NGL entrance place by sunrise and laid the two sleeping down for a minute so that they could rest. Feitan tossed a water bottle from Chrollo's bag to Gon whilst opening his own. Gon thanked him almost silently before chugging his own. 

As Gon and Feitan sat down the other two woke up. The sun was rising anyway so it wasn't too surprising that they were stirring. As they woke up Gon and Feitan laid down to rest a bit. Shalnark was the first one to actually get up, Chrollo following ten minutes after.

"Did you two carry us all the way here by morning, without waking us up."

Gon nodded to Shalnark as a reply before closing his eyes. 

"That's super impressive, considering how light of a sleeper the boss is."

Feitan laughed when Gon shot him a mildly confused look. 

"Why do you think I not want to switch. He would wake up with me. You were still whole time."

Shalnark laughed at Feitan's response.

"Wow, Feitan, so mean. You made the newbie risk his life like that. Do you know how angry the boss would have been if he'd woken him up?" 

Feitan nodded confidently as if that explained everything he'd done in his whole life. Shalnark shook his head again, laughing quietly.

"You three do know that I can hear you right?"

Shalnark froze and turned slowly to face Chrollo. Feitan opened his eyes and sat up straight. Gon stayed as he was, being too tired to really care what he was saying.

"Um, hehe, sorry boss, but you are quite the angry riser, and you know it."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

Shalnark mumbled something to himself about proof being right there, but nobody paid him any mind as they returned to their prior tasks. Gon was asleep for fifteen minutes before he got up swiftly and collected a sleeping Feitan. 

"He's a light sleeper too, be careful, he wakes worse than Chrollo does."

Gon nodded before turning to the others. He nodded his head to say 'follow me' and they did.

"Don't worry, he'll definitely be mad when he wakes up anyway."

"No, you don't understand. This is a really bad idea."

"It'll be fine Shalnark, stop worrying so much. It's only Feitan, he's not going to be able to hurt me."

"It's because it's Feitan that I'm worried. He is going to literally murder you."

Gon didn't even try to whisper back a response as he adjusted his grip on Feitan slightly. 

Gon had walked for the short distance they traveled. He was honestly kind of surprised that Chrollo was letting him take so much authority on this mission, but he wasn't going to argue. As they approached a lake Gon turned his head and shushed Shalnark. As he carried the smaller closer to the water he noticed Chrollo and Shalnark start to back up.

He threw Feitan into the water and laughed. When Feitan emerged, he looked anything but amused. He said something to Gon but it wasn't in a language anyone else knew. Shalnark mumbled something along the lines of oh no before taking off running in the opposite direction. Feitan had an intense aura around him as he got out of the water. He had a different set of clothes on almost instantly and he was still speaking in a different language. By this time Shalnark and Chrollo had run back to the place, they were at that morning. Gon could understand why this aura would frighten some people, but he didn't see how Feitan was making people so scared. 

"You will be sorry."

Gon laughed as he started walking away.

"Yeah, I'm sure I will. Come on, we should go find the other two. They took off when you went psycho."

Feitan shot something made of nen at Gon and hit him in the back. Gon got up and turned to look at Feitan. 

"I need you for this mission, so I won't kill you."

Feitan laughed like a madman.

"I can't say the same for you."


	5. Chapter Five

Gon felt like he should be scared, the aura that Feitan was emitting was enough to show him that. For some reason though, he wasn't. He was confident that he could beat Feitan. Gon got into a defensive position, knowing full well that Feitan would strike first. 

_One good Jan, Ken, Rock should knock him out long enough to calm down._

Feitan charged and went for a punch to the diaphragm on Gon. Gon blocked with one arm and countered with the other. He grabbed one of Feitan's arms and locked it behind him. He pulled Feitan's head back by his mask and held him there for a few seconds. Without trouble, Feitan lunged out of Gon's grip and turned for another punch. It was clear that he was blinded by rage and Gon intended to use that. 

He charged up for his Jan, Ken, Rock and waited for Feitan to strike again. He made sure that he was only using 60% of his power so he wouldn't kill Feitan, only knock him unconscious. As Feitan ran at him from one side, Gon turned enough to make sure he landed his punch. Even Feitan wasn't fast enough to avoid the punch so instead, he put his arms up to try to block it as best as he could. It was a fruitless effort, he was knocked unconscious almost instantly by the sheer force of Gon's punch. 

As soon as he lost consciousness his clothes returned to normal and he collapsed to the ground. Gon picked up bridal style and set out to find his other two companions. He walked for a bit before sending out his en. He was able to find them within ten minutes and appeared quickly in front of the pair. Gon laid Feitan down on the grass, covering him with his own jacket. Chrollo turned around when he heard Shalnark choke on his own words. When Chrollo saw Feitan, unconscious beside Gon's feet he had to do a double-take. 

He could have sworn that it had been Feitan who'd been fighting Gon when they ran. But that couldn't be right, no one has ever fought Feitan after he snaps and lived to tell the tale. He was looking from Feitan to Gon with both fear and admiration coating his face. Shalnark looked very similar but he was much more obvious. 

"What? Are you two okay? You look like you've seen a ghost or a group of them."

Shalnark tried to respond but was still struggling to comprehend the situation. That couldn't be the same Feitan who'd almost killed Phinks by snapping from almost 50 yards away. That Feitan would never lose, much less to a child, right?

Chrollo ended up composing himself first and speaking to Gon in the calmest manner he could manage. 

"How did he end up unconscious?"

"Oh, well... see that's my bad. I didn't think my punch was that strong. I even dialed the power back to 70% and only did a small windup."

Shalnark spoke up this time.

"Are.. Are you uninjured?"

Gon nodded, expression blank as he waited on someone to elaborate. After waiting for a minute he spoke up again.

"Are either of you going to tell me why you're looking at me like I just killed your puppy?"

After a quick glance back at Feitan to make sure that it was real Chrollo explained.

"Well Gon, when Feitan gets angry like that, we call that him snapping. When he gets like that he is deadly. Nobody, and when I say that I mean nobody has ever been in or near a fight with Feitan like that and lived. The troupe tried to watch a mild one once and we all almost died, reflexes and instincts being our only savior. So, as far as I can tell you are the first person to ever survive a fight with _that_ Feitan. And on top of that, you knocked him out. We are a little surprised." 

More like scared but whatever, at least I know I hold a serious advantage over the others.

They sat for a few hours waiting for Feitan to wake up. After he did, he started asking questions. Chrollo answered while Shalnark cowered behind Gon. Feitan looked both frightened and impressed when Chrollo told him that he'd been beaten. That reaction might have been the furthest from what everyone had assumed would happen. 

Gon got up and started walking towards the NGL. 

"Come on, we need to get going, the king will be born any time now. I want to kill them all before having to take on the absolute strongest."

Nobody argued as they followed silently behind Gon. For the next 20 miles, they were silent. After that Shalnark started to get antsy. He started talking with Feitan about some unintelligible topic of their own interests. They reached the NGL border and entered swiftly pulling out their hunter's licenses. They removed metals, reluctantly on Feitan's part, and went through the rigorous screening process. 

After a while, though they were permitted to enter the NGL. They walked for a while until they found a small area where they would set up camp for the night, before heading off in the morning. 

Chrollo passed a note to Feitan and Shalnark as they walked so that Gon wouldn't be aware of the topic. The note was short and got straight to the point, reading,

_We have to tell the others about his power._

They both nodded and continued following Gon.

This was a new chapter of everyone's lives, especially those of the Phantom Troupe. They now had a new member who surpassed the strength of even the strongest weapon in their possession. Gon was on his way to get revenge and had no problem working with the spiders to get it. All in all, everything was going great, other than the permanent fear that the three members would carry with them, now knowing a better extent of Gon's true power. They wouldn't be getting on his bad side any time soon, of that, they were sure.


	6. Chapter Six

This is a warning. During this chapter, there may be some depictions of violence that could trigger some people. It probably won't be gory or anything, but I don't want to scare anybody or anything. You have officially been warned.

Gon woke up before the others and decided to let them sleep. Feitan must be exhausted from their fight. He let them sleep until they woke up on their own. It didn't take long, them waking up as the sun started to fully rise. As they packed up any stray items or belongings, Shalnark started to get worried. If Gon had done that to Feitan in a good mood, imagine what'd happen to anyone in the vicinity if he's angry.

"Hey boss, if Feitan is destructive when he's mad, imagine what'll happen to us if he gets mad and snaps."

"I don't know, but I do know that I don't want to find out."

He decided that if Gon did lose control that he would get his people out as fast as he could. 

Gon could hear what they were saying but didn't care all that much. He just kept walking and let them talk. After a while, he turned around to push them behind a nearby tree. He put a finger to his mouth to shush them. A Chimera Ant walked past the bushes, clearly unable to sense them. 

After the Chimera Ant had left the vicinity Gon released a breath that they hadn't known he was holding. When he noticed the concerned look he was getting, Gon decided to elaborate. 

"I used an enhanced version of zetsu. I basically just made sure that I had some form of contact with each of you and when I held my breath, it hid our nen and physical forms. It's an easy ability to use for me though it is rather tiring to use on others. Come on we need to keep moving."

They walked a bit more before Gon stopped them and backed up. He looked at each of them pointedly, as if appraising them. 

"Now's the chance to back out. The aura you're going to sense is horrifying. Be ready or go home, it's definitely not safe in the next few miles."

Nobody backed down and they kept walking.

"Um, Gon... wouldn't it be better if you turned on your emotions. Isn't that what you did, turn them off?"

"Hmm, essentially yes. But no, turning on my emotions could make my anger spiral too far out of control. I don't want to know what I'd do at that point."

Shalnark was confused for a bit before he remembered that he'd never seen Gon's true strength. They walked for another twenty minutes before stopping once more. 

"This really is your last chance to leave."

They all shook their heads and Gon continued forward. As soon as they entered Pitou's en range they had to stop to recuperate themselves. Gon for a completely different reason then the others.

"This isn't right. This isn't as strong as it was last time I encountered it."

Shalnark and Feitan shot up at that. 

"This isn't the strongest one!"

Gon only shook his head. He gestured to them to hurry forward before they were located. They moved forward swiftly despite the fear coursing through their veins. Gon led them through the castle as best he could, with his limited knowledge of his surroundings. They made their way up to the throne room and saw Pitou and what they could only assume to be the king sitting at a gungi board with a girl. Gon's hands balled into fists on instinct and he pressed his back against the wall. 

Chrollo watched his movements carefully before whispering to Feitan and Shalnark beside him.

"Something tells me that he has his emotions back on."

They nodded but didn't respond, backing up slowly from Gon. Chrollo stopped them and waited to see what Gon would do. He was seething and it was obvious. Aura was spilling out of him and it looked kind of like Feitan when he snapped, but stronger. 

He turned the corner, not even trying to be discreet, probably knowing that Pouf was already on his way to attack them. 

"Pitou! You killed my friend. And for that, I can never forgive you!"

"Oh meow, look who's here. We can fight right after I finish healing his majesty."

Gon didn't seem to care about anything other than fighting Pitou at that moment.

"No, we will fight now! Or I will just kill your precious king right now." 

"Pouf, Youpi, restrain him, he's trying to hurt the king."

They nodded and charged at Gon. Gon turned around to see Pouf flapping his wings at him and Youpi attempting to punch him. He jumped backward and prepared himself to actually fight. He dodged Youpi knowing that he'd need to try to conserve some nen for his fight with Pitou and the king. "Chrollo, Feitan get Youpi, Shalnark, can you help me with Pouf?" They all nodded and joined Gon in his fight. Chrollo summoned his book and Feitan pulled his sword out of nowhere. They fought Youpi down with ease, Feitan removing his head from his body easily. Gon and Shalnark were almost done fighting Pouf when Pitou announced that she was done, rather loudly for someone who could've snuck up on them.

"Gon go, we'll deal with him."

He nodded and hesitated no more as he charged at Pitou. She dodged easily and countered his punch with a kick. 

"Meow, Meow, you've gotten stronger since I last saw you"

"You're wrong. I've only gotten angrier and less in control of my power."

She laughed as he launched a kick, only to be a feint, and appear behind her, landing a punch. She flew forwards and landed on her feet again. The fight between the two got progressively faster. It eventually got too fast for even Feitan to process from his spot over Pouf's newly decapitated body. 

Punch after punch and kick after kick was being thrown by both parties and they had even captivated Meruem's attention. He was watching them closely, making sure to keep Komugi out of the way. 

It was anyone's fight and there was no real way to tell any advantage, other than the aura differences. It was clear nonetheless that Gon's anger and thirst for vengeance were making him stronger and more determined to win. 

"If your friend does claim the victory, I will not fight, but rather, I will no longer kill humans. He will have earned my respect and I will simply admit my defeat."

"I would advise you to tell him that when he's done." 

Chrollo agreed with Shalnark and Feitan sat against the wall, feigning indifference. 


	7. Chapter Seven

The fight was going on for what seemed like an eternity but had only actually been close to three minutes. Gon's anger was only growing as he realized Kite truly couldn't be brought back, not by someone who'd rather die than fulfill his wishes. His punches were getting stronger but Pitou was not back down. In fact, she didn't even look tired. Gon wasn't tired either but would be getting that way soon. There was no avoiding fatigue for anyone, but Pitou clearly had more stamina than Gon ever would. 

Gon landed one really good jan, ken, rock on her and she flew back. After landing on her feet Pitou charged at him. Gon blocked her attack and managed to rebound it against her. He used a strong form of Ko to knee her in the chest. She was starting to get sloppy, with the number of attacks Gon was landing. He was inching closer to winning this fight and he wasn't going to back down. He fought harder with each blow and sped up any time she caught on to his plan. He eventually decided that it would be best if he stopped thinking about his moves before he made them, that way she couldn't read into what he was going to do next.

Gon landed at least three more punches before they slowed down enough to be seen by the others. At this point Pitou had bruises coating her body and blood was flowing freely down her face. She spit out a mouthful of blood before wiping her mouth. She was getting sloppier the more that time passed, the amount of blood lost weighing her abilities down. Gon felt no sympathy for her, he was brutal. He was more merciless than Illumi was with Killua. Gon didn't stop throwing attacks once. He wasn't going to stop until she was either dead or agreed to restore Kite. 

Feitan thought about stepping in but didn't exactly want to know what happened to people who get in the way of missions. Two months ago, Feitan could've confidently said that he feared nobody on the planet, but now... his statement was very different. Gon was terrifying, especially when he was angry. The three Phantom Troupe members were lost in their own trains of thought when they heard a scream. Gon had plunged his hand into Pitou's stomach. 

She stayed down, moving, but not getting up.

"Jan, Ken, Rock!"

Gon screamed at the top of his lungs, clearly preparing for a massive blow. 

"We should all get out of here. I don't want to find out what happens to those who are in his vicinity."

The three companions nodded and Meruem followed carrying a now sleeping Komugi. They exited the room without making a sound, so as not to disturb the fight in any way. As soon as they exited the room though, Meruem hopped out a window and launched himself and Komugi far into the distance. The others followed out the window and ran at top speeds to find them before the impact killed them too. As soon as they made it out of range, the entire castle collapsed with a thundering uproar. 

The noise itself was enough to knock normal people off their feet, anyone who had been inside the castle, was dead. There was no question about that. The only question left for them to ask, was whether or not Gon would have survived any of that. Physics and logic weren't on their side, but the strength that they'd seen over the past week was enough to make a strong argument. 

They didn't have enough time to ponder for long though, because an exhausted-looking Gon emerged from the rubble and walked towards them. Once he made it to where they were standing he looked at Meruem. He squinted at him as if determining whether it was worth his time or not.

"Hmm... Something tells me that your sole concern in life is her. So long as I never catch wind of you eating and killing people, I haven't actually seen _you_ do anything wrong. I have no interest in fighting you. Take her and go."

Meruem nodded in an almost grateful way and walked into the forest. Feitan and Shalnark were watching Gon carefully, making sure there was no residual anger, before approaching. Chrollo was checking for injuries while Gon focused his energy on staying awake. 

"I did it. Thank you guys so much. This was only supposed to be a scouting mission for you three and you still helped me. Because of you all, Kite has been properly avenged. He can be at peace now. Pitou is dead and the Chimera Ants have been wiped out at the source. When they see this, they won't want to fight us again."

Gon pulled out his phone and dialed Killua's number. Since it was a new number, Killua didn't know it was Gon and answered. 

"Killua, I know I have no right to be talking to you, but after this, you will never hear from me again. Which is honestly best for you... I killed Pitou and the other royal guards with help. Kill Kite so he can rest in peace. He shouldn't go through that anymore."

He hung up the phone, not waiting for a response. He knew Killua would do it. If not for him, for Kite. He walked towards the other side of the forest and started walking back to where they needed to go to leave the NGL. 

"Hey, Gon... Wait, you need to rest. It's amazing that you're still standing but there's no need to push it."

Gon looked at Shalnark with an eyebrow raised. 

"Don't worry about it. I estimate I can get halfway there before I need to rest for a few hours."

Chrollo replied this time.

"Shalnark is right. You expended quite a lot of nen and energy tonight. You don't want to risk passing out and missing a fight that you might be needed in."

That got Gon's attention. 

"Fine, I'll rest for a few hours, but you all should go on, I'll catch up sooner or later."

They shook their heads and plopped down on the ground, waiting for Gon to join them. He heaved an exasperated sigh and sat down with the group. Feitan took the first watch while the rest of them slept. Gon was alert in his sleep, just in case, something did happen. He was always ready, despite what he acted like. Innocence worked on him for a while, but it was a tiring act to play. He decided that just being himself would do just fine when he was with the Phantom Troupe. He couldn't possibly be the most messed up one out of the lot of them. 

Gon woke up to the sunrise the next morning, feeling refreshed and energized. He got up and stretched his arms and legs. He moved to wake the others up, but decide to let them sleep. To Gon, they probably needed it, the past week had been stressful. Besides they would wake up before long, the sun would get too bright. Gon went out and hunted for some food. He found some deer and squirrels. He cooked them while the others slept and when they did wake up, he had it made and ready for them. He let them take whatever they wanted and said that he ate while they slept, even though he 100% did not. When they finished their food, they set off to find their way back home. 

Personally, Shalnark couldn't wait to tell Phinks and Shizuku about Gon's insane power. Feitan wasn't too far off that train of thought but was more interested in getting stronger than Gon. Chrollo was simply worried about how the rest of the spiders would handle their newfound realization. 

The trip was incredibly successful if you asked Gon. He was okay with living his life as a spider, he had avenged someone who truly deserved it. He had fulfilled his goal and was ready to give up on finding his dad. He didn't need someone who abandoned him anyways. Besides, he was really starting to like these people. They really felt like family to him. 


	8. Chapter Eight

They had made it to the exit area of the NGL. As they were being searched for any contraband, Chrollo spoke up.

"Gon, did you get injured in your fight with Pitou? You look rather pale."

Gon shook his head slowly and looked back towards the man searching him. Gon hadn't eaten in upwards of ten days, and it was starting to take its toll on him. Nonetheless, he figured he could hold out until they made it back. If he couldn't, then he would just eat something he found on the way there. He didn't tell anybody anything as they started the run back to where they left their car.

They ran for a few hours, stopping here and there for Shalnark and Chrollo to take breathers. Feitan was fine and Gon appeared fine on the outside. Inside was a whole other story. He was controlling the appearance of how he was breathing. He made it look normal even though he was practically panting every time they stopped. 

Gon's chest felt like it was on fire when they finally made it back to the car. Shalnark slid into the driver's seat swiftly and started the car. Feitan and Gon settled into the back while Chrollo took the other seat in the front. They drove for another three hours when Gon started to feel sick. He didn't voice this to the others. He figured that since he hadn't eaten he couldn't get sick. He was right, technically, he didn't get sick. He did start to get dizzy as they arrived back at the city though. When they dumped the car and began the walk back to the hideout, Gon lacked behind a few steps. Oddly enough, Feitan was the first one to notice this. 

He subtly slowed his pace to match Gon. He leaned up slightly so he could talk a little quieter.

"Are you okay? You are slow. Look pale. Steps no have balance."

Gon looked down at the shorter male, shaking his head quickly. Immediate regret was felt when a black abyss swarmed his vision and he had to pause, so as not to pass out. Feitan stopped as well, watching Gon with concern lacing his eyes. 

"I'm fine Feitan, I swear. I just got a little dizzy is all."

Feitan didn't believe him one bit but figured it'd be better to wait until he could sit to interrogate him. Once they got back to the base, Gon wasted no time in going to his room. Feitan followed quickly, making sure to not be seen by anybody else. Knowing Phinks he'd make assumptions that were less than inaccurate and tell the others. When Feitan entered Gon's room, he pinned him against the wall. 

"Why you look sick? Tell truth or I get others."

"Okay, okay, let go."

Feitan did and Gon sat down.

"I really am fine Feitan you don't need to worry about me. I just haven't eaten in a little bit. I'll be fine in a few hours."

It didn't seem like the whole truth but Feitan could tell that he wasn't lying to him either. He joined the rest of the spiders out in the main room. Shalnark was on his way back with Machi when Feitan sat down. He looked at Chrollo as he spoke.

"We tell them?"

Chrollo only nodded as Nobunaga asked about the subject of the meeting. At that moment Feitan returned with an upset-looking Machi. 

"Why did I have to be dragged out of my training for this?" 

"You're going to want to hear this. Even Feitan was scared."

The last statement made her sit in silence. 

"You all know that this mission was to gather information and then return to get back up. Well, there won't be any need for that. Gon practically single-handedly took out the targets."

He recounted the events of the past week and a half. Everybody froze when they found out Gon topped Feitan in strength. Most of them shuddered when Chrollo told them that Gon hadn't been at his full power and Feitan had.

"One punch."

They all turned to Feitan.

"What do you mean Fei?"

"He hit me once. That is all. No more."

"I'm sorry, what."

They turned to Machi, who had finally spoken.

"You are telling me that there is someone who can knock psycho Feitan out with one hit. Does no one else find that even a little bit, I don't know, mortifying?"

They all stayed relatively calm but nodded in agreement. Chrollo continued his recount of the events. Once he was finished everybody sat back to process the new information.

_I didn't know that people could be stronger than Feitan, when he's like that he was stronger than Uvogin._

_That isn't possible, he took out the strongest guard on his own. Not to mention Feitan._

_I need to see that for myself, but I don't really want to see that kind of power._

"If it makes anyone feel better, he seemed to have pretty good control over his power, even when angry. Up until the very end of his fight, he made sure all of his attacks avoided us. He lost control when he killed her though, but we had already gotten out of there."

That seemed to put most of them at ease. They could at least count on the fact that they'd have plenty of time to get out of the vicinity if Gon ever lost it. 

"Although fair warning. Feitan and Shalnark think that he regained his emotions during the fight. He very well might be harder to control now."

This was unnerving to the rest of them. Nobunaga was relieved though. 

"I think it's a good thing. If he can use his emotions, he'll be less likely to go on a killing spree or something because he doesn't care."

They considered that a valid point and went with that somewhat comforting idea. They talked for a little bit longer when Gon walked in. Shalnark spoke to him, smiling as usual.

"Hey Gon, I had a question. After you killed Pitou, weren't you exhausted from the aura you used?"

"I was tired yeah, but I wasn't incapable of continuing the journey back or anything. I probably could have made it to the car before actually needing rest. Come to think of it, I wasn't really all that tired anyhow. I probably could have fought Meruem, if it had come down to it. Why?"

He smiled his obnoxiously large smile and waited for an answer. Shalnark hesitated for a moment before ultimately deciding to tell the truth.

"Because none of us have ever met someone that powerful. I mean think about it, you took down the strongest enemy and Feitan. And you weren't even at full strength when you fought Feitan."

Gon cocked his head to the side like a puppy waiting on a treat. Feitan noticed how his hands were shaking and remembered that he said he hadn't eaten. He moved to get him food but Gon started talking again. 

"I'm not that powerful. I was just really angry with Pitou and the adrenaline made me lose control. To be frank, I think Feitan was incredibly held back when we fought. It only took one punch to knock him out. I know he's got more power than that." 

Gon walked into the kitchen, still smiling. They all turned to Feitan in question. 

"I not hold back. Never hold back in fight."

They disbanded their meeting not long after. Most went to their rooms, but Feitan and Chrollo went to the kitchen. 

"So Gon, how did you not know how powerful you were? Didn't anyone ever tell you?"

He looked up from his phone and sat his protein bar down.

"Not really, I guess Morel said so but I just thought he meant for a kid. That's what my aunt Mito used to say all the time too."

He turned his attention back to his phone, hearing a hum of acknowledgment from each of them. They left without another word and Gon went back to playing his game. He finished his protein bar and went to his room after missing his shot in his game.

Gon laid down and went to sleep thinking that he was genuinely happy with where he was right now. 


	9. Chapter Nine

Gon woke up to the sounds of collapsing rocks ringing through the room. He shot up and quickly ran towards where it seemed to be coming from. He found Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio standing together, tearing down walls with nen and punches. 

"Gon, you're actually working with _them_ now?!"

Leorio was fuming and Kurapika's eyes had turned scarlet. Killua just looked sad. 

"Gon, working with the Phantom Troupe does not make you my enemy, because I know that you had nothing to do with the murders of my clan."

Gon cocked his head to the side before realizing what they were planning.

"Gon just stay out of the way. We'll get you out of here. They can't hurt you after this."

"Killua stop. They haven't hurt me. I chose to be here and you know that. They are my family now, they showed me loyalty and helped with things that nobody else could have. Please leave before they kill you. This isn't something for you to be a part of. I have only caused each of you pain and suffering, now I'm finally getting out of the picture. You can be happy now."

"Gon it's far too late to say that."

Kurapika showed his chains and pulled Chrollo and Shalnark out from behind them. Their mouths were covered so they couldn't speak. Shalnark was struggling against his bindings, but Chrollo seemed to have figured out that it was a pointless waste of energy. Gon wasn't angry with Kurapika, this was something that he'd been striving for, for a long time. But he wasn't about to let them hurt his new friends. When Kurapika sent another chain flying towards Machi, Gon caught it and held on with an iron grip.

"Let go of them Kurapika. This isn't a fight I want to have with you guys."

"Gon, don't make me use my power on you. I am much stronger than you, and my chains themselves are unbreakable weapons of destruction. I vowed to only use one on spiders but now you are one."

"I'm sorry Kurapika, but I can't let you hurt my friends. I don't want to hurt you but I know you aren't stronger than me. Not since I shut down."

Kurapika sighed and mumbled an apology. He tightened his chain around Chrollo's middle, causing a slight groan. Gon watched as Shalnark struggled against his chains, Kurapika making them tighter the more he tried. The more he watched the angrier Gon became. His aura started flowing out of him, filled with anger. 

Shalnark put one of his needles into his upper thigh and went into autopilot mode. He started fighting against the chains even more then. He eventually was able to wiggle his way out of the chains. He got into a hand-to-hand fight with Leorio. Despite not being as adept at physical combat as the others, Shalnark was more than capable. Leorio was an adequate opponent but was nowhere near the skill level Shalnark was at. It was a quick fight, Leorio giving up easily after seeing the power his enemy had. 

Shalnark turned to Killua, ready to fight. Killua just stared blankly at him. Shalnark rushed forward fist raised. He feinted and kicked Killua in the side. Killua slid backwards slightly and watched as Shalnark ran at him again.

"I am not here to fight with you. I'm here for my friend."

Shalnark laughed somewhat maniacally. It was strange to hear coming from someone so upbeat. Shalnark didn't continue trying to attack Killua nonetheless. There was no point in fighting someone who wasn't going to defend themself. He backed down and went back over to try and help Chrollo out of his chains. Before he could pull the chains even a little his needle wore off. He could already feel the soreness that he was going to have, building up. Gon was trying to talk Kurapika and the others out of their decision. 

"Get out of here now. This is not a fight that you can win."

Kurapika scoffed at Gon and turned to Chrollo. He tightened the chain further and started giving commands. There wasn't any arguing going on from Chrollo until Kurapika said he would no longer be allowed to use his nen. He hesitated long enough for Gon to get past Killua and Leorio. Chrollo sighed and started stating back each statement Kurapika had said. Once he stated that would no longer be able to use nen and the punishment would be death, Kurapika shot his judgment chain at him. 

Gon was fast enough to catch the chain before it could hit Chrollo, and be dragged with it. Gon made contact with Chrollo, knocking him out of the way. The only way that Gon was going to be able to stop was if he somehow broke the chain since Kurapika didn't look like he was going to stop the chain himself. Gon summoned any form of strength he could think of. He looked closely at the chain and noticed that it looked just like a normal chain. He just had to find the weak spot. 

He started yanking and pulling on the chain as he flew through the air. He was going to hit the wall if he didn't break it soon. When he looked back at Kurapika he saw the slightest hint of a smirk on his face. That bastard was enjoying it. That only fueled Gon's anger from before. He ripped at the chains with a force he didn't even know he possessed. He snapped the chain where he held it and landed gracefully on the ground beneath him. 

"Now, if you would be so kind as to release my friend from what I'm sure is an uncomfortable binding."

Kurapika didn't at first but pulled his chain back when Gon started walking towards it. 

"How did you break my judgment chain Gon. They are supposed to be unbreakable. I staked my life upon that belief."

"You shouldn't have come here. You all need to leave now." 

Killua looked defeated and Kurapika still shocked. 

"C'mon Kurapika, we need to go. This isn't a fight we can win right now."

He dragged Kurapika out with Killua following despondently behind. He turned back to Chrollo and Shalnark noting any injuries he saw. He looked them over carefully before turning to Chrollo first. 

"I estimate two to three broken ribs and a bruised hip bone."

He turned to Shalnark next. Looking carefully over everything. 

"I'd say six or seven broken ribs, fractured wrists, sprained elbow, dislocated shoulder, and the muscle soreness that most likely comes from that autopilot thing you did."

Shalnark looked dejected at the reminder that he would have to deal with the repercussions of his ability. Gon laughed to himself at Shalnark's kicked puppy look. He stood with them for a few moments more before coming to a realization. 

"Guys, where's Feitan. I haven't seen him since yesterday, and he wouldn't have left during a fight."

"Oh my God. Gon's right. Where could he be though?"

Gon, Chrollo, and Shalnark thought for a few minutes. Gon came to a conclusion first. 

"One of them was knocking down walls, that's what woke me up. What if he got trapped under rubble."

They all went wide-eyed and started to run. Gon turned and stopped two of them.

"You two stay and rest, you're already hurt and won't be of any help. I'll find him." 

The pure seriousness in his eyes was enough to make the two sit down. Gon ran off, yelling Feitan's name every now and again. He wasn't getting a response that way so he decided to use en. When he sensed Feitan laying under a large pile of rubble he rushed to where he was. Gon found Feitan with ease after that and started throwing rocks off of the latter. He was careful not to make any others fall.

After the heaviest of the rubble was off, Gon pulled Feitan out of the rest. He sat down for a few moments to make sure he was breathing. After making absolute sure that he was at least alive, Gon carried him bridal style back to the rest. 

He laid him down next to where Shalnark and Chrollo were sitting. Shalnark reached out with an instant regret as pain seared through his muscles. 

"God, I hate autopilot."

Gon looked over Feitan, carefully removing his mask and shirt. He looked closely at him for much longer than he had the others. 

"I'd say that he most likely has a concussion, definitely at least three broken ribs, his jaw is practically shattered, even unconscious he flinches at the touch, so probably also a broken femur. I mend typical broken bones easily and I know a simple enough fix for shattered ones, I did that stuff for my village for years. The main doctor taught me a remedy for the concussion that would take at most an hour. The issue is, he has to be awake for me to figure out what happened because he's too fast to have been awake and still crushed."

They agreed and Gon started fixing each of their ribs and the rest of the injuries he saw. The powers he used for this had always been pretty draining, though he never could figure out why. Even as a kid doing these healing tactics would exhaust him beyond belief. Gon sat Feitan up to drink the remedy for the concussion. **(A/N: Because that exists now)** Gon let Feitan rest in his room with Shalnark, both of which he had to carry.

Chrollo had refused to rest like Shalnark, claiming that he was healed perfectly fine by Gon. He was helping the others move the necessities into one pile so he could use one of his stolen abilities to transfer it all. Machi and Gon were moving kitchen items into the pile while Phinks and Chrollo worked on moving furniture. They only had a few more things to grab from their individual rooms. Gon grabbed his things and Feitan's, while Phinks grabbed his and Shalnark's. The rest collected their own knick-knacks and valuables. 

Once they had all gotten their suitcases of clothes ready to go and put into the pile, Chrollo summoned his book. He flipped through a couple of pages before finding what he was looking for. A black sheet was conjured out of nowhere and Chrollo tossed it over their belongings. 

Gon and Nobunaga were about to go get Feitan and Shalnark when the prior stumbled into the room. They sat him down and Machi went to get him a glass of water. When asked what happened to him, he claimed that he had no memory. 

"Can I try something Feitan?"

Feitan was hesitant but agreed.

Gon assured the latter that no harm would come to him. He made Feitan lie down on the couch and stood over him. He gently placed his hand on Feitan's forehead, like a mother would check a child's temperature. Gon closed his eyes and Feitan imitated him. Gon watched as images flew through his vision, depicting exactly what had happened to Feitan while they were fighting Kurapika and the others. 


	10. Chapter Ten

Gon explained what happened as he watched images fly around. 

"He was woken up from the noise. He was walking cautiously around fallen rocks. He heard someone approaching and got ready to fight. They had power that he didn't prepare for. It was Killua. I can tell by the power. He knocked him out."

He removed his hand from Feitan and helped him sit up. 

"You got really lucky. Usually, the amount of electricity he uses is enough to kill anyone."

Gon looked from Feitan to Chrollo. 

"We should go. They could come back. I'll go get Shalnark."

Gon went to grab Shalnark, but the latter wouldn't budge, claiming to be too sore. Gon sighed and threw him over his shoulder. Shalnark protested slightly until Gon moved him so he wasn't in pain. He walked back out into the other room and started on his way to the door. 

"C'mon, Feitan are you good to walk?"

He nodded slowly and started following Gon towards the exit. The others followed silently, watching to make sure Feitan wasn't going to collapse. Chrollo grabbed his cloth of items and followed the rest of the troupe. 

They stole three cars and Gon laid Shalnark in the backseat of one He drove and Feitan sat in the front seat. Gon had never actually learned how to drive but he figured it would be easy enough to pick up. Chrollo drove the other car with Nobunaga, Phinks, and Shizuku. The final car was being driven by Machi with the others riding. They drove to York New city, stopping once at a diner for food. 

Gon brought food out to Shalnark since he was being dramatic. He sat with him and ate his food. Once they were all done they continued driving and made their way to the city. After arriving, Gon gave them directions to an abandoned area of the city that he'd seen when he was there last time with Killua. 

There was a warehouse in the center that Kortopi duplicated 23 times. They entered one on the far left. They had Gon and Phinks carve out areas for extra rooms. Once they were done, Chrollo opened his cloth and the items returned to their usual size. They each collected their belongings and claimed their rooms. Phinks helped Shalnark move his things into his room. Once everyone was moved into their areas Gon smashed his and everyone else's phones. 

After a couple of yells and protests, he pulled out a new one for everyone. 

"They probably tracked me. So, I grabbed extras while you all ate." 

They set up their new devices, putting the new numbers into each one. After they all went to bed and slept through the night. Gon was the first to wake up as per usual. He absolutely hated being such an early riser, but that's the price you pay when having lived with aunt Mito. While he waited for the others to wake up, he decided to look for anything that might interest Chrollo. He had found out that the Phantom Troupe, despite the obnoxious amount of training, didn't actually go on that many missions. 

He was looking online for any big auctions or things like that when Phinks walked in. He looked at the laptop screen before grabbing a cup of coffee.

"For someone who used to be so good, you sure are eager to join the bad guys."

"I don't think I was ever so good. Quite the contrary, I think that I was trying to be a perfect hunter to find my father. It turns out, however, that I don't really care too much about him, why should I, he left me. Besides, all the deep stuff aside, doing this kind of stuff is really exciting."

"I-"

Machi walked in next and ignored the pair, choosing to go make herself some coffee. When she exited from the kitchen again, she sat down at the table with Gon. Gon closed the laptop and announced that he was going to run some errands. He quickly changed into a black crop-top and skinny jeans. He left out the back and headed to the market. He pulled out a list that he'd made the night before. 

_Noodles, Tomatoes, Potatoes, Celery, Bananas, Cream Cheese, Rice, Ice Cream, Marshmallows, Eggs, Milk, Instant Coffee, and Sunflower Seeds._ **(Yes this is part of my grocery list.)** He found the items he needed and paid the cashier. Gon wasn't comfortable with the way the grocer was looking at him so he left with his bags and headed to a clothing store to pick out some new outfits. 

He wanted something plain and simple so he just grabbed two comfortable-looking outfits and basic clothes.

Outfit 1 ^

Outfit 2 ^

After he got his clothing, he headed back to the new hideout. He got distracted by little things every so often. The trip back that should've taken twenty minutes ended up taking an hour and a half. Once he managed to get back, he threw his clothes into his room and started putting the food into cabinets that had shown up while he was gone. He organized by size so that everyone could get to everything. He kept most essentials on lower shelves for himself and Feitan. He grabbed a few pots and pans and started on dinner. He made a simple fried rice and left it in the pan for the others. He took his serving to his room and pulled out a book. 

He was halfway through the sixth chapter and almost done eating when Nobunaga walked in. 

"You've been oddly helpful since you joined. What are you planning? Nobody acts like that without having something to gain."

Gon marked his place and looked up. He continued eating, not responding at first. When it was clear that he wasn't leaving without an answer, Gon sighed. 

"I do things like cooking and cleaning because it's something I enjoy. I always have, not that I'm all that great at keeping my area clean. My aunt always taught me to be efficient when I do things. It's the same reason I get up so early. I'm not up to anything."

Gon finished his food and walked past Nobunaga. He turned his head slightly to look back at him.

"I gave Chrollo my word, I don't ever go back on my word. And besides, if I'd had something planned, you'd all be dead."

He walked back to the kitchen to clean the dishes. Nobunaga wanted to tell him that he was being too cocky, that the phantom troupe was stronger than him. He didn't say anything, however. He couldn't really could he? All he knew was what Chrollo, Feitan, and Shalnark had told him. That in itself was enough to prove his insane power. But also, he had watched Gon break the chain user's chains. Chrollo and Shalnark had failed to do that. 

Nothing could be certain about Gon except that he had an insane amount of power. Nobunaga could see in his eyes that he was being honest when he said he was just doing his own habits. Though that also meant he was serious about killing them if he wanted to. Having an absolute refusal to be afraid of a child, Nobunaga scoffed. 

"Cocky kid."

He went back to his own room. Gon washed the dishes and dried them, putting them into their respective places. He knew that Feitan hadn't eaten, probably still feeling a little odd from being crushed under mounds of their old hideout. He fixed him a bowl of oatmeal since it would be easier to eat quickly. He finished washing the dishes that were there and took the now cooled oatmeal to Feitan's room. He knocked on the door and heard a small hum. He entered the room and saw no sign of his friend. He placed the food on the bedside table and wandered around the room looking for him. He walked into the bathroom and found Feitan lying on the ground with his head resting on the tub.

He walked over to him and crouched beside him. He put his hand on the smaller's forehead.

_Hmm, no fever. Must be exhaustion._

Gon lifted Feitan with ease and carried him over to his bed. He handed him the oatmeal and grabbed a bottle of water. 

"Here eat this and drink. It will make you feel better."

"I no want to."

Gon sighed before trying a different tactic.

"C'mon Feitan, you won't be able to go on any missions if you can't move."

This got a reaction but he still refused. Gon decided to try bribing him next. 

"Please eat it. If you do I'll help you train for two weeks."

This brought him to life. 

"Fine. Give food here."

Gon obliged and handed the water to him as well. He left Feitan to his food and closed the door behind him. He heard a whisper of thanks but assumed he wasn't supposed to hear it. He went back to his room and read the rest of his chapter before setting the book down and getting ready for bed. He brushed his teeth and took a shower. He put on boxers and laid down. He was half asleep when Shizuku came in. 

"Gon?"

"Hmm"

His reply was coated in sleep but she didn't react in the slightest. 

"Shalnark wanted me to ask you to talk with him tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll find him when he gets up."

She nodded and silently left the room. Gon took a drink of his water and laid his head back down. He got up not thirty seconds later, remembering to plug his phone in before finally falling asleep.


	11. Chapter Eleven

Gon woke up the next morning earlier than usual. He brushed his teeth and combed his hair. It fell just above his eyes and was around Feitan's length. He brushed it out of the way and went to go make breakfast. He made a simple omelet and ate quickly. He went back to his room and unplugged his phone. He made his way to Shalnark's room and knocked quietly. He got no response and went to his own room. When he entered Feitan was sitting on his bed, phone in hand. 

"Good, we train now."

"Feitan, shouldn't you still be asleep."

"You said we train. So I up."

Gon sighed and changed into his old tank top and some old loose shorts. He didn't seem to care that Feitan was still in the room and Feitan didn't seem to be leaving. He changed quickly and followed Feitan to a clear part of their area. They found somewhere far enough away that they wouldn't damage the actual building. Gon moved his hair out of his eyes again and turned to Feitan. 

"What power level am I using?"

Feitan thought about it for a few seconds before answering. 

"Twenty percent less than last time. That will work good."

Gon nodded and backed up a bit. 

"Your Japanese is getting better you know."

"Thank you."

Gon bowed his head and took another step back. Feitan bent his knees in preparation to fight and Gon got into his own position. Gon attacked first, using a simple ko-infused kick. He missed and Feitan threw his own punch. They continued throwing various attacks and missing. Their speed increased as they fought and their friends starting joining to watch. They still hadn't landed a single attack. Shalnark and Phinks were standing together with the others to the left. They'd been watching them for the past two hours and the two had been out an hour prior. 

"This has been going on forever. How much stamina can someone have?"

Shalnark looked up at his friend. 

"I don't know, but it's obvious that Gon is going easy. By a lot, I'd say 35-40% power."

"Forty! How strong is that guy?"

Shalnark shrugged his shoulders. He continued to watch the fight. After another fifteen minutes, Machi turned to the boys. 

"Who wants to make this interesting?"

Shalnark turned to the pink-haired psycho.

"What're you thinking Machi."

"I bet sixty jenny Feitan lands the first hit. Who's in?"

"Oh, no way, I'll put eighty jenny on Gon." 

Shizuku, Phinks, and Kortopi joined Machi's side of the pool while Nobunaga and Bonolenov joined Shalnark's. After a few more minutes, to everyone's surprise, Chrollo, without looking up from his book, spoke up. 

"I'll put another two hundred jenny on Gon. Even held back, his power is insurmountable. I still have a cut on my side from his last fight against the ants." 

Shalnark was shocked.

"You got hurt from that blast?"

"Yes, that's why I knocked you and Feitan into the king and the girl. I knew we weren't fast enough, but the force of my attack propelled you far enough. And I knew I wouldn't be seriously injured, Gon has amazing control, even when he's angry."

Chrollo placed his book on the ground beside him and pulled his coat open on one side. There was a large gash that looked pretty bad, but not fatal. 

"Boss, it's going to get infected. Here, let me fix it."

Machi activated her nen and started stitching the wound together. The rest of them continued to watch the fight. Another half-hour passed before Machi finished.

"If you would have just stayed still, that would have been done faster."

Shizuku pulled out a calculator and started doing calculations. 

"If my calculations are correct, whichever team wins will have to split the money by four so, each person will get 194 jenny rounded up by one." 

They nodded, choosing to trust her math. They watched the fight proceed for another hour, patience waning. Neither of the two seemed to be letting up. By now it was a little past two p.m. and Phinks was starting to lose it.

"How long can people fight for? I mean really, Feitan looks exhausted." 

Little did they know, Gon could hear them and knew that. But he'd already tried to get Feitan to give up and try again tomorrow. He wasn't going to stop until one of them landed a hit. Gon was fine with that, using only 40% gave him much more stamina to add to his usual stamina. Gon had just broken a sweat while Feitan was practically gasping for air. 

He thought about just letting Feitan take the victory but didn't really want to deal with an angry Shalnark and Feitan. Gon continued dodging and attacking, assuming that at some point, he would collapse. The exhaustion was clearly weighing down Feitan and he was getting slower. But nobody could really judge him, he'd been fighting for hours. They went back and forth for a few more minutes before Gon got the upper hand. 

Feitan's footing slipped slightly to the left, so his attack wasn't as accurate. Gon dodged a little less and focused on using his other foot to kick his opponent out of the air. He landed his attack and Feitan hit the ground. Gon helped him up and Feitan was still panting. 

"You are a really impressive fighter, you know. I didn't think you'd last that long. Even my fight with Hisoka didn't last that long, though he did forfeit."

Feitan nodded his head in thanks and went off to get water and shower. Gon followed along slightly slower and stopped at the group that had been watching.

"You are all terrible. Making bets about your friends. Especially when you knew how it was going to play out."

He pointed an accusatory finger at Shalnark and continued walking. 

"Hey, Gon?"

He turned back to look at Phinks.

"Yeah."

"When do you think he'll be able to fight you at full strength?"

Gon thought about it for a bit before replying. 

"My guess would be a year, maybe more. And that's just to land a hit while I'm at full strength. I know that I'm strong you guys, I just never use my full power. I used it once when I was training with Bisky and it nearly wiped out three towns, and that was only one normal punch. Killua was retaking the hunter exam so he was okay, and Bisky was able to get on my shoulders. So I guess that if we continued training every day, then yeah eventually he could land a hit on me at full strength."

Gon was cut off by Chrollo.

"So he probably could, but he won't. You won't use that strength. So, with the ants, that wasn't full power then?"

Gon shook his head.

"No, that was really hard to control through my rage though. I'd hazard my guess around eighty percent. Maximum of ninety though."

Gon turned and walked away, leaving a shocked-looking Shalnark, Phinks, and Bonolenov. Nobunaga and Machi looked angry and Shizuku and Chrollo made almost no different facial expressions. Gon walked back inside and went to his room to shower. Once he was done, he went to the kitchen to cook something. He made some simple onigiri and laid them out for everyone to take as they pleased. He ate quickly and then made his way up to Shalnark's room.

He knocked before entering, though he didn't wait for a response. 

"Shizuku said you wanted to talk to me."

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I was wondering how you got such incredible power. Not to mention how young you are."

"I don't know, natural skill?"

"That much of it, your parents must have been insanely strong."

Gon got a sad look on his face at that.

"I-uh I couldn't tell you. My dad is Ging Freecs, but I've never met him and I don't know who my mother is. But if you want I can train with you as well. No offense to you guys, but Feitan isn't much of a challenge."

Shalnark went wide-eyed before nodding his agreement.

"Oh, before I forget, there's onigiri downstairs, I made it a little bit ago."

Shalnark shot up and ran downstairs, leaving a chuckling Gon behind. The latter went back to his room and continued reading until he actually had to go to bed.


	12. Chapter Twelve

Gon woke up feeling refreshed and went to go brush his teeth. He was in a good mood for approximately 45 seconds. It could have been a good day, but something always had to happen, didn't it? When he entered the bathroom, however, he saw Hisoka leaning on the counter. 

"Ah, Gon, so you really are here. Why?"

"I'm here because I belong here. I cause fewer problems here and they accept my power as it is."

Hisoka laughed as if Gon had just said the dumbest thing he'd ever heard.

"Your 'power' as you call it is barely there. You don't even come close to where Killua is and for the record, you'll know when you are. You'll know because I'll fight you."

Gon looked offended.

"You don't think I'm strong enough to fight you then?"

Hisoka hummed his affirmation. 

"If you're so sure that I'm not strong enough then fight me. Right after I get ready."

Hisoka laughed but agreed, moving out of the room so Gon could get ready. He took a quick shower and brushed his teeth. He dried his hair with a towel before wrapping it around his waist. Assuming Hisoka was still in his room like the creep he was, he didn't really want to be walking around naked. Hisoka wasn't in his room anymore, so that was a relief. He changed into a tank top and his old green shorts. 

If he was going to fight Hisoka his clothes were sure to get ruined. He went to tell the others that he was going out for a bit but found Hisoka sitting with them. He was teasing them by the looks of it. 

"Oh good, we can get started now. I have places to be you know."

Gon rolled his eyes and walked out the door. He popped his head back in quickly.

"Oh Feitan, I will train with you when I finish this."

He nodded and Gon continued out the door again. He was determined to get Hisoka to leave him alone. 

"So if I win this, you have to leave me alone. Agree or I will have no hesitation in killing you."

Hisoka chuckled and said sure in the most sarcastic tone Gon had ever heard. They walked a little ways past where Gon and Feitan had trained yesterday. Gon knew this battle would require at least seventy-five percent so he accommodated his stance for some extra stability. Knowing Hisoka, he might even have to use full power, even though he swore he wouldn't. 

But if it got Hisoka to leave him and the others alone, it might just be worth it. Hisoka as per usual didn't initiate any sort of the first move. Gon knew this tactic well, he wanted Gon to rush in so he could stick his bungee gum onto him. Gon was at a serious advantage, bungee gum is just an aura-based ability, so he could break it, just like Kurapika's chains. But he didn't need to know that just yet. He also didn't need to know the full extent of Gon's power. 

Even before the fight had started, the phantom troupe were writing down their bets. 

_Gon: Chrollo; 580 jenny, Feitan; 140 jenny, Shalnark; 120 jenny, Nobunaga; 100 jenny, Shizuku; 200 jenny  
Hisoka: Bonolenov; 200 jenny, Phinks; 100 jenny, Machi; 210 jenny_

Kortopi decided to abstain from that bet, along with Franklin. They were going to place bets on Hisoka, but if they lost to Chrollo, that was a lot of money. Even if they lost to the others it was still a lot of money. Not that they couldn't just steal it back, but that was a lot of work, even for master thieves. 

Gon finally got tired of waiting and just charged at Hisoka. Hisoka seemed pleased with this and moved out of the way with ease. Gon landed a hit every now and again, taking note of exactly where his opponent placed his bungee gum. He was going to break it then but found it pointless to show his hand so early on. He continued to land powerful punches on Hisoka. Despite the smug look on his face, it was obvious that he was being injured. Much longer and he wouldn't even be able to keep up the facade. 

They watched with amusement, none of them liked Hisoka, even if they could appreciate his power. This was looking to be a quick fight until Hisoka pulled out his cards, slicing easily through one of Gon's arms. Gon didn't look frightened at all, on the contrary, he was laughing. 

"Oh come on Hisoka, I gave you a completely off guard scenario. You only aimed for my arm. Are you going soft or just underestimating me? Either way, I'm offended."

Hisoka laughed a little but was very obviously pained. He didn't show it too much though, because he stood up straight and pointed another card at Gon. 

"Don't worry, I just prefer to have some fun with my prey first."

With that, he revealed his bungee gum. One placed on his cheek, one on his arm, and the last one on his foot. Gon laughed and it was a scary sound. Especially to Hisoka, who had previously ignored Gon's new appearance, and remembered the childish giggle that Gon used to have. He brushed it off as if it were nothing and continued to pull Gon around by his bungee gum. He launched him into the air, only to slam him back into the ground. Gon came out of that relatively unscathed and Hisoka tried for a different attack. He pulled him towards himself and slammed his fist into his chest. Gon didn't look injured in the slightest, in fact, he continued laughing at Hisoka. Once he was allowed to stand on the ground fully again, he made pointed eye contact with his enemy of sorts. 

He started pulling at the bungee gum with his left arm, never breaking eye contact. Hisoka looked confused, he knew that Gon knew bungee gum was indestructible. So what was he doing? Trying to distract him, get his guard down? No, those weren't likely. He continued to watch for another ten seconds, curious as to his point. After about five of said seconds, the bungee gum snapped in half. For the remainder of that time, Hisoka stared at Gon. Admiration, fear, and shock shone brightly in his eyes and there was no way that Gon didn't see it. 

"H-How did you even?"

"I remembered that you once said, 'bungee gum contains the properties of both rubber and gum.' It also contains aura, and all of those substances can be broken with the right angles and force. I broke Kurapika's chain too."

Hisoka was frozen in shock for the first time in his life. Never once had he been rendered unable to move to defend himself. But at that moment he couldn't, not as Gon rushed at him, not as a fist collided with his rib cage, and not as Gon removed the rest of the bungee gum from himself. 

He couldn't possibly win though. It just wasn't probable, the boy only had one arm. Hisoka was planning to take advantage of that situation as best he could too. He now realized the true power that Gon was using and could tell that he was holding back. It was time for Hisoka to truly get serious.

 _Well Gon, who's underestimating who now hmm?_


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Even without his arm, Gon was sure that he could win, even if he had to up his power a little bit. Hisoka was aiming all of his attacks at Gon's right side, not really giving him a good opening to attack. Gon was stumbling back every time he had to adjust to block across his body. 

He was getting rather annoyed with this whole thing. He disappeared instantaneously, reappearing to the, now, back of Hisoka. Assuming Gon would try to sneak behind him, Hisoka had turned around in preparation. Gon would up Jan Ken Rock, and just as Hisoka had turned back around, hit him, at 90%, right in the stomach. 

Hisoka didn't get up, he was unconscious. Gon walked away, picking up his dismembered arm and going back to where the troupe was. While he sat on the ground for Machi to reattach his arm, at Feitan's insistence. There was no way he was going to fight someone who wasn't at their best. Nobody brought up the fact that technically speaking, Gon was never at his best. 

Gon looked at their little betting ring and looked at Phinks. 

"Wow, I feel like I should be a little offended."

"Hey! In my defense, the last I checked Hisoka was a lot stronger than you. Or at least that's what you made it look like."

Gon smiled up at him, getting scolded by Machi for moving too much. Shalnark and Shizuku went inside to get some food for everyone before Feitan and Gon started training. Gon wound his arm around a few times, waiting for the last of the pain to go away. When the food arrived, Gon ate slowly. The others ate while exchanging their money.

"Hey, are you guys going to be betting on us again? Cause I want in every time you do."

Gon talked around his food before getting a resounding no from the members. 

"We've all lost or gained enough money for a little while, thank you."

"Hey, who's fault is that, you bet against me and we made it very clear that my power level is insane. Just be lucky you never had to fight Hisoka. I had to use like 80%-90% power for him."

Phinks looked like he was trying to decide between anger and shock.

"That, what just happened, wasn't full power?!"

"I told you, I don't trust myself using my full power, so no."

He continued eating and pulled his phone out of his tattered shorts. He played a game for a little bit. Really, he'd been ready to fight anytime. He just wanted to see how long Feitan would wait. After about fifteen minutes he heard a huff before he was grabbed by the arm.

"We fight now."

There wasn't room for argument, not that Gon had any. His clothes were already torn up and were only going to get in the way. So he removed the remnants of his shirt and threw it to the side. His shorts were still good enough to wear, so he just tossed his phone over towards Shalnark. 

The fight was about to begin when Gon stood up straight.

"How much power do you want me to use this time?"

Feitan took no time to think about his answer.

"Whatever you think best."

Gon nodded and lowered it down to forty percent. The fight started and within the first minute, everyone could tell he was going way easier. Despite that indisputable fact, Feitan was still partially struggling to keep up. As they fought Gon thought about the irony of this whole situation.

Not even three months ago, if he'd been having this fight, he would've been aiming to kill. Now, he was doing this to train his friend. He laughed at the situation.

"Hey, Shalnark, why don't you join him.? I told you that I'd train with you too."

Shalnark hesitated before handing Gon's phone to Phinks and joining the fight. If Feitan was struggling yesterday, then Shalnark didn't stand a chance. He wasn't really trying to keep up, but more so predict where Gon was going to be next. The issue therein lies, Gon's fighting style changed constantly. Gon thought about lowering his power a little more, but he was enjoying the feeling of superiority. 

He knew he had a serious advantage over them, but in any other part of life, Gon knew they were all better than him. In terms of pure power though, Gon had them all beat. It was kind of funny to think about for them all. Gon was a twelve-thirteen-year-old kid and he could take down one of their fastest and strongest people, at their best. Even though that thought would probably always be at least a little unsettling to them all, even Gon himself, they were glad to have him on their side.

They got along with Gon really well anyways, so at least it all turned out pretty well for them. None of them could complain, so long as they didn't give him a reason to turn on them. They were going to go inside but decided to wait for Hisoka to wake up. They wanted to make sure that he wouldn't be coming back. Sure enough, when he woke up, he was true to his word, sarcastic sounding or not. He left without any arguments or snarky comments. Gon was a little surprised, to say the least. He had at least expected some taunt. 

It wasn't like it mattered really. Hisoka was gone now and he was pretty sure that his friends would leave them alone. He broke Kurapika's chain, so at the very least, they should be scared for a while. Gon would estimate that it would take roughly three months minimum for Killua or Leorio to convince Kurapika to try again. Either that or they'd find someone else to help. Not that it would do them any good, Gon was happy there. He felt like he belonged. With Killua he had always felt close to him but always felt like he was being held back. 

It also hadn't help that he knew that he was holding Killua back too. He worked well with this group, they let him be powerful. They appreciated him and had a loyalty that he'd never seen before. At this rate, Gon was making a family faster than ever before. Nobody had gotten hurt and he was removing the restraint of himself from Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio. In his mind, he was doing everyone a favor, and soon enough they would see it too. 


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Gon did as promised. He trained with Feitan daily for a week. Though there was definitely an improvement in his fighting technique and stamina, Gon had only been able to up his power to 43%. To be fair though, Gon had a lot of power, which made relatively no sense. He hadn't trained enough to have that kind of power, even as an enhancer. He couldn't have possibly been born with that much power, so there wasn't any real reason for it. 

Not that anyone on his side could complain, but anyone opposing him most certainly could. They had stolen some rare jewels and artifacts around neighboring cities. A few casualties, no more than ten. They sold them for triple what they were worth, not that anyone knew the difference. Gon continued helping people train as they asked and even trained with Chrollo a few times as per request. He started a schedule with Feitan and Shalnark since they wanted regular training. Every other day, they'd switch and when Gon finished with them, he would train with anyone else who asked. He didn't get a lot of free time, but that wasn't really an issue. 

Having too much free time, meant he had more time to think. The more he thought, the more he'd spiral. Never about what he was doing, more so of what he might do. He worried over what he might do to the phantom troupe. He had the tattoo so there was no going back at that point, but he couldn't help but wonder if he was dragging them down too. He was pretty sure that he wasn't but there was always that nagging voice in the back of his mind. After training with Shalnark on Tuesday, Gon went shopping for groceries. He picked up only the essentials and paid in cash, even though Chrollo had given him his credit card. 

As he was putting the groceries away, a thud could be heard from across the residence. Gon was going to check it out, but when nobody called for help, he assumed it was okay. He finished putting away the groceries and went to find out what had caused the abrupt noise. He walked in and out of rooms, finding no cause of anything. He ran into nobody either, they were probably looking too. As he entered Nobunaga's room, he saw him and Shalnark, unconscious in front of him. He leaned down and checked their pulses. They were strong so he was trying to sense if anyone was around. He could definitely sense someone. He just couldn't pinpoint who. 

He didn't have to ponder over it, because out of the shadow, stepped Illumi. He looked slightly off-put, but other than that kept no emotion on his face. 

"Hmm, so Kil was telling the truth. Interesting. So Gon, why are you with the phantom troupe now?"

He was circling Gon, as the latter continued checking his friends for injuries. 

"I'm here because I want to be and they don't try to control my power like Killua did. Though I can only assume that he was like that because of you." 

Illumi appeared behind him and grabbed his neck. Gon wasn't worried about it though, it was a harmless attack. It appeared so at least, and Illumi was never one to hide his true intentions. 

"You should be careful what you say, you know I am a trained assassin."

"And? I'm the kid who put Hisoka in the hospital."

Illumi was taken aback at that. He hadn't heard from Hisoka in a while, sure, but to be bested by Gon. He settled with a scoff before leaving out the window he entered. Gon eyed the window suspiciously for a minute before turning back to his friends. He couldn't sense any major injuries, just a few scratches here and there. Machi could handle that, where ever she was. Gon decided to check the area they had built a training arena in. It was just far enough away that even Gon's en wouldn't be able to reach. 

He found them in the training area, warming up. 

"Machi, Nobunaga, and Shalnark have some cuts and scrapes. Can you heal them while I try and find out what Illumi wanted?"

She agreed and Gon went to try and figure out why Illumi had been so passive. He thought about it for the next few hours, before coming up with a plausible answer. 

_Illumi was probably worried about Hisoka being in the hospital. He did look a bit worried when I told him._

That made sense and Gon couldn't think of anything else at the moment. He went to go to training when the voice in the back of his head got a little bit louder. He ignored it and proceeded on his way and thought nothing of it. He was stretching a little bit before his match with Shizuku and Shalnark. They were ready not long after and he stood up, feeling uncharacteristically tired. Not to mention, the voice he'd been ignoring was getting more and more prominent. 

Leave. They won't miss you, you only make it harder for them to work.

He tried to shake it off, but every attack seemed to make him more exhausted. He could usually last hours longer than the others, and the voice would be drowned out by their praise. He just couldn't fight the voice screaming at him as he collapsed to his knees. 

"Shut up! Shut up! You think I don't already know that? I don't know what you want me to do!"

They all froze in place. The happiest person and the most powerful person looked completely shattered. They were confused, what could possibly cause something so drastic. He was still screaming, rocking in place. At some point, sobs overtook his body and Shalnark had pulled him into a hug, Shizuku looking for any injuries. She couldn't find any so that made everything even more confusing. 

He was still screaming and Chrollo seemed to be trying to go through all of his thoughts at once. 

"Gon said Illumi was here, yes?"

"Uh yeah, but boss, he said that he had been benevolent, only clasping his neck pretty hard once before leaving."

"Hmm."

Chrollo dove back into his thoughts as Shalnark tried to, at the very least, calm Gon into sleep. After about five minutes of shushing and mumbling quiet nothings, Gon finally fell unconscious. He was exhausted, not that that made any sense either. They carried Gon back to the main base, a couple lacking behind with Chrollo to talk about causes. 

Nobody could hear what they were discussing but could tell that it was better to not interrupt. They laid him down on the couch leaving Feitan to watch him while they figured out what was wrong with him. They were in the kitchen discussing for the next two hours before Feitan himself thought of an idea. 

He silently hoped that he was right because if he wasn't, this could be a costly move. He put his hand on Gon's neck before pinching his fingers quickly into the skin at the bottom of his skull. He pulled out a needle and audibly sighed in relief. He carried the needle cockily to the kitchen. He leaned against the doorframe holding the needle up between his fingers. 

"I did it."

They all turned around looking quizzically at the blood on his fingers.

"Illumi stuck needle in head. Me never trust him."

They all looked shocked that Feitan had been able to figure it out before them. None of them doubted Feitan and knew that he was incredibly intelligent, but all things considered, Chrollo and Machi were the smartest members. 

All things aside, they could all relax in good conscience, knowing that Gon would be okay. Though it didn't stop a couple of them from wondering what Gon had heard in his head, that affected him so greatly. 


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Gon woke up feeling completely dead. His head was pounding, his chest hurt, and he felt as though he'd been crying. He sat up slowly, taking in his surroundings. He was still in the hideout so that was good. At the very least he knew he hadn't been kidnapped.

He got up fully and walked around looking for his phone. He couldn't find it so he settled for just going back to sleep. He was still near the couch and extremely tired so he just went back to sleep there. He fell asleep easily, not caring to figure out what happened yet.

He woke up again the next morning, getting up quickly. He found Feitan at the kitchen counter, seemingly trying to make coffee. 

"Need help?"

Feitan turned to look at him wide-eyed.

"You woke. It been two days"

Gon looked shocked and opened his mouth to say something. Feitan nodded, knowing what he was going to ask. Gon collected his thoughts and took a deep breath.

"What happened to me?"

"Illumi stuck needle in you head."

Gon nodded angrily before smiling again. He moved Feitan to the left a little to show him how to make coffee. Feitan understood after a few minutes of demonstration.

"You no remember?"

"What happened? No, I'm going completely blank. Why?"

Feitan shook his head so as to say nothing. Gon wasn't buying it but just assumed they'd tell him in due time. Gon made breakfast for everyone and went to take a shower. While he was showering he could hear them arguing. He wasn't trying to eavesdrop but he made a few statements out every so often.

Two, in particular, stood out to him.

"It'll destroy him if he remembers whatever it was."

"It's his mind. He has the right to know."

He blocked out the rest of the conversation, assuming that it was none of his business. He took a longer shower than usual, feeling a little gross after having not for a few days. He brushed his teeth and washed his face off. He still wanted to know what happened fully but thought better than to press the issue. He got dressed in his usual black crop top and sweats. He went back downstairs and told them he was going to look for his phone in the training area. It was the only other place it could be. He walked in and saw Illumi holding his phone. 

He was glaring daggers at Gon.

"You put my friend in the hospital."

"You put a needle in my head, so I don't see the issue here."

"I only retaliated because Killua asked, not to mention you put Hisoka in the hospital. Besides, you clearly got it out just fine."

Gon only rolled his eyes, stepping forward. Illumi stepped back, making Gon a little angrier. 

"You just said that I put Hisoka in the hospital, do you really want to be next? Mind you, I didn't use full power." 

Illumi froze in place, shocked. It took less than a second for him to recuperate but it was long enough for Gon to snatch his phone out of his hand. Illumi aimed a needle at his eye, Gon dodging with ease. Illumi continued to fire off needles, aiming where he thought Gon would go. After using upwards of fifty needles, Illumi switched to hand-to-hand combat. He was using all the training he had ever had and was still at a disadvantage. This couldn't be the same kid from the hunter exam. This was some freakish clone and Killua had been wrong. That would have been what he returned to tell Killua, but the look in his eyes was proof enough of the life inside of the boy. 

Gon was getting bored. For a trained assassin, his fighting styles were very predictable. Every time he threw a right hook he pivoted his left foot back slightly, kicking with his right foot after. Everything Illumi did seemed to follow a strict pattern, and while Gon liked to toy with people, he was tired. He spun behind Illumi as he went up for a kick, pinning him to the wall in seconds. 

"Leave now and take Hisoka with you. Oh, and tell Killua that this is the last warning, if any of you come here again, I will have no hesitation in killing each and every one of you." 

Illumi would have argued but he didn't really care all that much. At this rate, Killua would return home and his plans could continue as they were prior, if a little delayed. He nodded silently and walked out when Gon released him. Gon went back to the hideout and plugged his phone in prodding anyone he could find for information. Nobody would tell him anything, on 'the boss's orders." He was growing a bit frustrated at the whole ordeal but knew where he stood. If Chrollo had told them not to tell him, even his best threats wouldn't work on them. They may be criminals but they got along with Gon for a reason. They were all loyal to a fault. 

Gon sighed as he gave up on his hunt for information. He went to his room and unplugged his phone. He pulled up his contacts and found aunt Mito's. He thought about his options for a few moments before pressing the dial button. It rang four times before she picked up. 

"Hello?"

"Aunt Mito! Hi!"

"Oh, Gon hi!"

"I just wanted to say this one more time before I lose contact with you for a while, maybe even forever. I love you, you have been the greatest mother I could have possibly asked for. This is to keep you safe, I've made some new friends and my old ones aren't happy about it. Goodbye aunt Mito, I'm sorry."

"Gon! You don't need to do this. You can come home, live with us again. Everything can go back to normal. Please."

The tears were evident in her voice at this point and Gon felt awful.

"I'm sorry but this is to keep you safe. Goodbye, I love you, aunt Mito."

"I love you most, Gon."

With that Gon hung up the phone and let a few silent tears fall down his cheeks. He didn't think he'd ever need to make that phone call, but he didn't know the lengths Killua was willing to go. It just wasn't a risk he was willing to take. Hopefully, she would figure out that they needed to move somewhere new since they knew where she lived currently. Gon wiped his face off and went to the restroom. He looked at himself in the mirror and all things considered, he didn't look too bad. 

His eyes were a little red but he'd never been a particularly ugly crier, his eyes had slight bags under them, but not too noticeable, and his hair was growing into split ends, but he could cut that. With that last thought, he opened the bottom drawer of his counter and pulled out his scissors. He started making cuts along his ends, hoping it wasn't uneven. When he finished and threw the removed hair away, he looked it over fully in the mirror. It definitely looked much better, neater. He walked out of the bathroom and settled back onto his bed with a book. He started reading and read until he got halfway through chapter nine. He fell asleep, book in hand, on top of his covers. 

The others were still having debates about whether or not they should tell Gon about what happened. On one hand, he did deserve to know, it was his head, but on the other hand, if they told him what he said, he might remember something that could cause him to break down again. His reaction to whatever was said was an obvious indication that he'd thought it before. On top of it, they couldn't do anything other than try to convince Chrollo if they wanted to tell Gon. As the head of the troupe, they had to follow his orders, whether they agreed with them or not. 

"Okay, I understand why some of you would want to tell him, but think of it from my perspective. If whatever Illumi had said, had that effect on him, while he was being controlled, what do you think it would do when there wasn't any prohibition?"

"Yes, boss. But it also have no effect with no Illumi.?"

"That may be a valid point Feitan, but I don't know if that's a risk I'm willing to take."

"Boss, think about it this way. If he remembers on his own then he's probably going to be livid when he realizes we didn't tell him."

After another hour of convincing, Chrollo agreed to leave it up to a coin toss. Nobunaga sent the coin into the air watching as it twirled. Chrollo watched stiffly as he called his bet.

"Heads."


	16. Chapter Sixteen

The coin twisted through the air. It took less than three seconds to land back in Nobunaga's hand, though they could all see it happening as if in slow motion. As Nobunaga opened his fist to show the result of the coin toss. He looked at it and turned towards Chrollo, who had until now, never lost a coin toss. 

"Tails."

The look on his face was enough to show how surprised he was at having lost. He sighed and relented his argument. 

"Fair is fair. You may tell him, but it's risky and you need to realize how affected he could be."

Shalnark and Feitan looked pleased with themselves and proceeded to go to Gon's room. They knocked and walked in to find him sleeping. It wasn't a position that they would have called comfortable but he looked peaceful. Shalnark moved his book from his hand and just that little movement made Gon stir slightly. They would've moved him so that he was under his blankets but that would've woken him up without a doubt. Besides, who knew what kind of emotional drainage he had felt so far. 

They went back out to where the others were waiting. They sat back down at the table before anyone spoke to them. 

"What happened to telling the kid?"

"He's asleep. It's so early too, so he probably needs it."

They all gave Shalnark a pointed look after glancing at the clock. 

"Early for him."

They nodded, judgmentally, but didn't voice those opinions. They couldn't find a reason to, he was still stronger than all of them. They couldn't really judge, none of them had great sleep schedules. They all went to bed not long after, Shalnark and Feitan lagging behind to make a plan to tell Gon. After they thought of something, they went to bed, deciding to wing it for the rest of the way. 

Gon, as per usual, woke up earlier than everyone else. He made some waffles and laid out some fruits for the others. 

I never would have thought that I'd be cooking breakfast for the Phantom Troupe. But... I'm not upset about it either.

Gon climbed up onto the roof with his food and watched the sunrise. It was a calming sight. It relaxed Gon to see the colors fade into one. Though he would prefer a sunset. After he finished his food and the sun had risen all the way he made his way back into the house. He put his dish in the sink and went to his room to shower and change. He noticed that his clothes had been washed and folded. He put them away and made a mental note to thank Franklin, who had mentioned a while back that he enjoyed laundry. 

He grabbed a set of clothes and headed to the bathroom. He showered quickly, hoping to get out and go shopping before the others woke up. He wasn't so lucky, as he got out of the shower and went back out to the kitchen. He was going to leave a note telling them that he had left but found Shalnark sitting at the table. He looked up expecting to see Gon. Gon, however, had not expected to see Shalnark. 

"Since when are you a morning person."

"I'm not, but I needed to talk to you and I knew you'd be up."

Gon went to sit down across from him but was stopped by Shalnark sticking his hand out.

"Fei is waiting for us in the training area."

"You got Feitan up for this?"

"No, I don't test limits like you do. He set an alarm. Which reminds me, he needs a new phone."

Gon laughed at the last statement but followed his friend outside and to their newly built gym of sorts. When they arrived Feitan was sitting against the wall, almost back asleep. He got up and walked over to where the two of them were standing. He nodded at Shalnark and the latter started off their explanation. As they explained, Gon didn't show much change of emotion. 

After they stopped telling Gon about what they had seen and heard Gon still didn't show much of a reaction. Despite his outward appearance, the explanation had brought a few memories to light. 

_Leave. They won't miss you, you only make it harder for them to work. He hit the ground, knees slamming into the ground. He knew that already, he knew he was a hindrance to them. He stayed because they hadn't told him to yet and he made a promise. He had to keep his promise. If he didn't have his word then what did he have left. Darkness surrounded him and he welcomed the peace it would bring him._

He told them he was fine and that it was just Illumi's mind games. They believed him since his expression was still that of boredom. He put his usual brighter than daylight smile on and practically skipped out of the room. 

"I'm going to the store, do you guys need anything?"

"Uh, no. We're all good. I think Franklin mentioned something about detergent or fabric softener."

"Okay, I'll grab both."

He did just as he said he would. He went to the store, bought some fruit and ingredients for cooking and baking because those were always calming activities for him. He grabbed the laundry supplies that were requested and paid the lady in cash. He walked home with a fair few bags in hand. He was offered help carrying the bags by multiple young women and men. Though after a pointed stare they admitted to asking because they thought he was attractive. He denied their offers but couldn't help but wonder what brought them on. 

When he was with Killua people never thought he was attractive or offered to help him. So why would they now? He thought about this until one boy, who couldn't be much older than Gon himself, walked up and complimented his outfit and hair. 

_Oh, it's because I look different. That makes a lot more sense._

He continued on his way back and stopped by an electronics shop to get Feitan a new phone. He asked the girl behind the counter for the latest model and a very protective case. She looked at him skeptically until he pulled out a large wad of cash that he had grabbed from his dresser before leaving that morning. She handed him the items without further conversation and he paid her the amount asked. He smiled brightly at her as he left and then walked the rest of the way home. 

Those thoughts were still clouding his head when he approached the door but he just ignored them. Even if they were there, he had promised and he wasn't about to break that promise. Just as he was about to open the door with his only free hand he heard his name coming from inside. He paused and strained his ears to hear the conversation better. He could hear Chrollo, Nobunaga, and Shalnark talking.

"Well, how did he take it?"

"He took it better than I thought he was going to. He barely even reacted, honestly, it was kind of surprising."

"Good, we need that kid, if we want to take down the Zoldyck family."

_Huh?! Take down the Zoldyck's. I can't do that, some of them haven't done anything._

He opened the door and the trio stopped their conversation immediately. 

"I won't take down all of the Zoldyck family. Some of them have done nothing wrong. And besides, they act that way because they were raised in an abusive environment. They don't know any other way to live."

"Gon, think rationally here."

"I am thinking rationally Chrollo. I will take down the parents and Killua's grandfather. I will also help with Milluki, and Illumi I suppose but the rest of them are innocent. Well, they can be if their parents aren't scaring them into doing bad things."

"He's got a point boss."

"Yeah, I know... Fine, we'll only take down those who truly deserve it."

"Thank you."

Gon proceeded to put the groceries away with a smile on his face. They needed him. He wasn't burdening them. He set up Feitan's newest phone and took it to his room. He made sure the case was secure before knocking on the door. When the door opened to reveal Feitan he handed the phone to him and went back to his room. It was obvious that he had been doing something by his state of self. Gon decided that if he wanted to talk to him later he would find him. 


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Gon pulled a new book off of his shelf and opened it to its first chapter. He read through about two and a half chapters before someone knocked on his door. He figured it was Feitan so he called out to him.

"You can come in."

Feitan walked in, just as Gon had suspected that he would. 

"I was training. Sorry."

"You're good, I could tell anyway. Does the phone work okay?"

"Yes. I want to talk."

"Okay, what's up?"

Gon set his book down and pat the space beside him to indicate that Feitan could sit. He did and he started talking.

"How did Illumi get you?"

"He caught me off guard. I saw two of my friends unconscious on the ground and that was the first thing I rushed to."

"No, how... you.. are now."

"Don't rush your words, learning a new language is hard. It's okay to not be fluent yet. I can teach sometimes if you want."

"Answer the question."

"I'm fine Feitan. It brought back the memories of what happened and it's fine. It got stuck in my head for a little bit but I'm okay now. I know that you guys think you need me and that's good enough for me. So, is that a good enough answer for you now."

"Yes."

"Okay then."

Feitan got up to leave and as he was closing the door behind him Gon spoke again.

"Do me a favor though? Try not to break any more phones."

Feitan laughed almost silently and Gon smiled as the door closed the rest of the way. He read the remainder of his chapter and the next three before he noticed that the sun had started to set. He put his book back on the shelf with a piece of paper marking his place. He grabbed a change of clothes and went to the bathroom to shower. He took a longer shower than he normally would. He turned the water to scalding hot and stepped in. He let the heat wash away his tension and stress. After he stepped out of the shower he noticed how red the water had made his skin.

He laughed a little at how cold the air felt in comparison to the water he had just removed himself from. He put on his clothes and went back to sit in his bed. He spent the next few hours playing games on his phone and reading about different auctions that were going on in the next few months. He didn't find anything that looked like it would interest Chrollo so he went back to his games. 

Despite what most people would think, Gon wasn't very technologically advanced. He wasn't great at math either. He had never gone to school so he wasn't great at most of that stuff. Nonetheless, he wasn't particularly stupid. He was pretty good at reading and writing. He also excelled at perceptive skills and observations. He could tell almost anything about you by watching you. This was something that scared most people so Gon never really voiced his conclusions. But they did come in handy sometimes. He sat up and threw a throwing knife through his open window. 

Illumi stepped through the curtains.

"I thought I told you to leave."

"And I am, I just have one question. Well, now two."

"Hurry up."

"How did you know I was here."

"You're particularly easy to read. It was obvious that you intended to come back even with my warning. Though it was clear that you were and are too afraid to be anything other than benign."

"That's... something. Why didn't you show any of this power at the hunter exam or any other times?"

"I didn't have nen at the hunter exam and Killua warned me against it. He said it would scare people and could hurt someone. Now I'm just not worried about any of that anymore."

"Okay, I will leave now, I have to take Hisoka home anyways."

Gon watched as he left back through the window he came in from and shut it after him.

 _I_ _just_ _can't_ _catch_ _a_ _break,_ _can_ _I_?

Gon returned to his game for another half hour before checking the time. It was already two in the morning. He really should get to sleep. He would be up at five and that's only three hours of sleep to run on. He could just sleep until six. It's not like he still wouldn't be the first one awake. He decided on sleeping the extra hour, he would need the rest. He had training with Machi and Nobunaga tomorrow. Machi was a particularly nasty opponent. Her nen stitches were much harder to spot and took more focus to latch onto. 

Nobunaga was an easy enough opponent though. His sword wasn't near fast enough to match Gon's pace at a soft thirty percent. This was incredibly entertaining to Feitan who was constantly arguing with Nobunaga about something. Many times it was about how overconfident in his abilities Nobunaga was. Watching him get put in his place by someone so young and almost as short as himself was quality entertainment. It also just happened to be great for teasing Nobunaga as well. He made sure to take every opportunity he had to tell everyone about his friend's latest loss to Gon. He would commit every detail to memory just to watch his face screw up in anger and embarrassment. 

Gon fell asleep smiling at the thought of the endless torment Feitan would surely exercise on his friend. When he woke up at five he set a timer for an hour and fell back asleep. He slept peacefully for that hour while the others were conversing about the oddity that was Gon sleeping in.

Shalnark had gotten up to get water at 5:23 and he noticed that Gon was nowhere to be found. He checked his room and saw him still sleeping. His jaw dropped, in the entire time of knowing him, Gon had never once slept past five. Not counting the time he was knocked unconscious by Illumi's mind attack.

He woke up the others and they all looked in. Feitan was still asleep because nobody was going to get murdered for waking him up. They all looked shocked at the sleeping form but when they closed the door and looked back at Shalnark they spoke irritatedly. Machi had been the first one to speak.

"You woke us up at 5:30 because he is still asleep. I will strangle you with my nen stitches Shalnark."

"Hey! When has he ever slept past five? It was shocking to me."

"Yes it is different but he also probably didn't go to bed until two in the morning. Now let's all return to sleep."

They all agreed with their boss and went back to bed, Shalnark still a little amazed that Gon had slept in. He didn't really need to be awake much longer than he had to be either. He had agreed to go with Feitan to watch Gon train with Nobunaga since they were doing individual sessions this week. He would also probably want to stick around to see the battle with Machi. Either way, he would not get to sleep for too much longer. Feitan would for sure wake him up if he wasn't up in time. These days and his training days were the only times he actually woke up somewhat early.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

Gon's timer went off at exactly six o'clock and he got up without missing a beat. He changed into something suitable for training, much like Phinks' outfit but less colorful. He made breakfast and laid it out for everyone when they woke up. It didn't take much longer for the rest of them to wake up. As the majority of them filed into the kitchen, looking more tired than usual, Gon looked up from his phone. 

"You guys are up early today."

"Shut it pipsqueak. It's too early, I don't know how you do this every day. I commend you."

Gon laughed a little to himself at Nobunaga's comment. He would have been offended but he could always get him back during training. 

"There's coffee over there and food on the counter. And it's not that hard, for thieves I would have thought you'd have a better sleep schedule going."

This time it was Machi who had something to say.

"Don't judge us kid, not all of us were raised on an island where everyone had a job at eight."

"I didn't have a job technically, I just helped out in the mornings while aunt Mito did chores around the house that she didn't trust me with. Then I'd go hiking or fishing."

"You are so odd for a child. You are so mature and immature at the same time, it's off-putting."

Gon shrugged his sarcastic apology and went back to his phone. He read through a few articles before looking up at Shizuku, who had sat across from him.

"Hey Shizuku, do you think Chrollo would be interested in this?"

She read through the article about an underground auction that would be happening in three weeks. She looked through some of the items that were advertised on the web before handing the phone back to him. 

"With those artifacts, I doubt the rest of us will get a say in it at all. He's a bit of a hoarder you know."

She giggled a bit under her breath before continuing. 

"Some 'underground' auction right?"

"Yeah, posting online articles everywhere. Idiots."

They thought it was much more amusing than it really was. Nonetheless, they laughed about it for a few more seconds before he returned to his phone and her to her food. He saved the article and clicked off his app to find some form of entertainment. 

He found a game that kept him entertained for another five or six minutes. It soon got boring after he realized that all it was, was memorization. He clicked off and went back to his room. He pulled out his book and sat down against his headboard. He had just started reading when he thought about telling Chrollo about the auction before he forgot. He sat his book on the bed, pages down, so as not to lose his page. He went down a few doors and knocked lightly in case he was asleep.

"Come in."

Gon opened the door slowly and looked around a little surprised. There were books lined against every wall. There was little actual color around, it was very similar to how photos with the sepia filter looked. 

"You are one of the two who have ever come to my room."

"Really?"

"Many of the others, I believe, are scared. Some just don't need to though."

"Hmm, you're not really all that scary. I mean, don't get me wrong, you used to be."

Chrollo laughed at his statement, taking no offense to it.

"What did you need Gon?"

"Oh yeah."

He opened his phone and pulled up the article to show Chrollo.

"Here, there's going to be an auction soon and I thought some of these things might interest you." 

Chrollo scrolled through the article, zooming in on particular antiques that caught his eye. He looked pleased with Gon when he returned the phone to his hand.

"Good work Gon. There are things here that all of our members may want for themselves. We shall go to Meteor City in a week. We will make a plan after we arrive. I will let the others know."

He glanced over at the clock on the wall reading 8:48.

"Don't you have training with Nobunaga in about fifteen minutes?"

"Huh?"

He checked the clock on his phone.

"Crap! Is it already nine. Jesus, time flies is right."

He went back to his room after giving his boss a quick thank you and goodbye. Gon checked his messages and notifications again before getting ready. He placed his book back on the shelf and changed into some shoes made for activity. He tied his sneakers and made his way out to their little arena. He made it there with a little over five minutes to spare and handed Feitan, who had arrived early his phone. Nobunaga looked far more focused today than he did most times when they trained. 

_He must have made a bet with Feitan. He's not stupid so it's probably not that he can beat me or even hit me. Hmm, I'll ask afterward._

Gon smiled at Shalnark as he walked in. 

"I told you I would come Fei."

"Good, this is fun."

"Sadist."

"Maybe."

Shalnark laughed at the outright admittance of sadism but said nothing more. As soon as one of them announced that it was 9:00 Nobunaga rushed forward.

 _Predictable_.

Gon would have dodged what most would assume to be a frontal attack if he didn't know that his opponent was about to be to his right. So, instead, he took a small step backward and bent into a backbend, and kicked up with his left foot. He landed upright again before Nobunaga even had time to fully comprehend the hit he had just taken to the face. A few more minutes of wasted effort from the elder and Shizuku, along with Chrollo and Machi came to watch.

"You use the same moves too much. You are relying on the basics too much." 

The advice only seemed to irritate him more. He continued to rush but was being slightly less predictable. 

At least he listened. 

Gon kept dodging, giving him more opportunities to attack. He enjoyed sparring with all of the members that wanted to. It was enjoyable and it was a decent training session for him, even if he couldn't come close to full strength. With Nobunaga, he typically dialed it back to around 15% but today he seemed really into it. Gon upped his power to 18%. 

"I think I'll do some training with him today if he is up for it."

They looked at their boss smiling before turning back to the fight at hand. That is a fight that everyone was interested in. Chrollo was undeniably powerful and his nen ability didn't require him to get close. He just needed to open his book. Shalnark was at a disadvantage because Gon was faster than he was when throwing needles and he couldn't get close enough to just stick him. Chrollo would have the highest chance of winning against Gon. 

"That will be interesting. We've never seen you fight Gon before boss."

"You know what else we've never seen?"

They all turned towards Machi, who was staring wide-eyed at the two a few yards away. They turned in that direction and their faces instantly matched her expression. 

Nobunaga had never once pulled his sword out for a training session. This battle was not going to end well. 


	19. Chapter Nineteen

"What bet did you make with him?"

"Seriously Feitan, he has never pulled that sword on anyone while sparring. You made him mad."

"I make him serious. Now he has chance-ish."

"What was the bet though?"

"If he hit him, I take his orders for week. When he doesn't, I get his sword for week."

"You two are so immature."

Machi said what she said, but couldn't help but smile at their antics. Chrollo's lips were upturned slightly as well. They watched in amazement as Gon dodged Nobunaga's blade like it was nothing. They shouldn't have been all that shocked, it was beyond proven that Gon was fast. Nonetheless, it was still a surprise. Nobody else could dodge the blade so easily, except Feitan of course. Nobunaga was only letting his anger get the best of him more and more as the fight went on. It was too obvious to Gon as well. Eventually, his energy would be spent and Gon could play on his phone for a few minutes. 

Nobunaga was incredibly determined, even though he knew that there was more power this time around. 

"So Feitan! What bet did you make with him?"

"He has to hit you! Or else!"

Gon laughed as he bounced around avoiding the sword swinging around him. He realized after a few more swings, that Nobunaga was trying to corner him. It was a clever strategy, but not if the target had already figured a way out of it. The trap didn't work as Gon maneuvered himself around the sword and behind Nobunaga faster than their eyes could process. He walked forward and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Too slow."

Nobunaga scowled at him before swinging backward wildly. 

"Swinging without a plan is going to get you nowhere. You are trying too hard to not be predictable that it makes you even more predictable."

Gon continued ducking and moving his upper body to dodge. He barely needed to move his feet for such amateur attacks. 

"We both know that you're usual plans aren't going to work on me. Don't think that I don't know how powerful I can be. I'm being generous by using 18%. What would you do if I were to use the power levels I use with Feitan?"

"Don't taunt me, kid. I will hit you. Even if it takes me all day."

"Big talk for someone who can't even get me to half what someone half their height can."

Gon knew what he was doing. He knew exactly what buttons he needed to press. Taunting Nobunaga would make him more determined to think up a plan the could at least get him close enough to hit Gon. That's all he needed. He only needed to land one attack. Then he could collapse into his exhaustion. The issue was if Feitan couldn't get close, how was he supposed to. It didn't matter, all he knew was that he did have to. He was not about to give Feitan his sword. 

"I'm not even to twenty percent. What if I just..." 

Gon's eyes went noticeably darker. Nobunaga froze for a half-second before setting his determination back into place. In reality, it had only been a scare tactic. Gon hadn't increased his power in the slightest. Even with Nobunaga's best attempts he wasn't any closer to hitting Gon. 

"You pulled your sword out and now you rely on it too much. It makes it all too obvious that you intend to hit me with just the sword."

Nobunaga only growled in response. He knew Gon was stronger than him but that didn't change the fact that it irritated him to no end. 

"You insolent brat," Nobunaga muttered under his breath as he kept his focus on his attacks. 

This same pattern repeated continuously for the next twenty minutes. The speed that Gon was moving at so easily was obviously tiring out his opponent. Nobunaga wouldn't be able to continue this fight for much longer. He was prepared to collapse before giving up. Gon wasn't opposed to this, it was a decent stamina workout in any case. He just kept bounding around like it was nothing. Which even for Feitan it wasn't much, though he would probably be getting slower. Those watching were highly intrigued. They had each seen the damage his sword could do, but at the same time, they all knew Gon's capabilities.

Gon flipped over Nobunaga's head, his sleeve being narrowly grazed by his sword. Nobunaga started getting slower after another 8 swings. Gon noticed the strain that he was using to take breaths. He decided that it had been enough. He stopped dodging and just caught the blade the came at him. It cut through his hand but he didn't react. He gripped the weapon tighter and pulled it out of Nobunaga's hand. 

"That's enough. You shouldn't overdo it." Gon sounded like a worried parent.

He handed his sword back to him and caught his phone that Shalnark threw at him. 

"So what exactly was the bet?"

"Feitan and Nobunaga bet that he could hit you. If he did Feitan would take his orders for a week and if he didn't, Nobunaga had to give him his sword for a week."

Feitan looked at Nobunaga, confidence written across his face. He stuck his hand out for the sword and Gon mimicked the action as Machi grabbed his hand to heal it. 

"I had some faith in Nobunaga. He used his sword and everything."

Gon looked up confused. 

"Had? He did really well. I upped my power by three percent and he got my sleeve. He almost cornered me as well. It was rather impressive. He thinks through his moves more than I had initially thought. He was a little better about my provocation too."

He pats Nobunaga's back and smiled brightly at him before continuing. 

"You did amazing. I think that was your best go yet."

Nobunaga wanted to be upset that he was getting approval from a child but a part of him liked the compliments. He grunted as a response and went back to trying and failing to ignore Feitan's onslaught of teasing. 

"You lose to him too. Every time you freaking dwarf!"

"But he fight me with 46%?"

"Hmm? Oh, no I use 48% with you."

Feitan smirked up at his counterpart. Gon ran back to get a few bottles of water for them. As he got back Chrollo walked over to him.

"Would you like to spar with me today?"

Gon laughed a little bit.

"There's no need to be so formal with me. But yeah, I have a session with Machi whenever she's ready, but after."

Chrollo nodded and took his spot back against the wall. Shalnark, true to his prior thoughts, stayed to see the match with Machi. She and her fighting style had always interested Shalnark. She fought in such a weird way to him, of course, he did carry a bat phone and needles so he couldn't really talk. Gon took a large drink of his drink and threw one to each of them. He looked at Machi before tossing his phone to the side.

"You ready?"

"Let's go."

They got squared up and Gon looked impressed. She took his advice from prior fights. He had warned her that her old stance gave away that her ability was something projectile, now she looked like a typical fighter. This was sure to be different. Gon was excited even if Machi was the one he had to go the easiest on. She and Nobunaga were the weakest fighters. She was better at healing and quick, easy fights. He relied on his sword too much and anyone who fought him could tell. Although, not many of them survived. They were the weakest of the group, but they were still way above the average strength. 


	20. Chapter Twenty

Gon prepared for the attack that he was sure was coming. He watched her charge towards him and was ready to use a basic counterattack. He hadn't expected that when he tried to move, his arm would be pulled forward. She had used her nen stitches while he was distracted with the new position. He didn't have enough time to try to break the stitch so he flipped backward and off to the side, arm staying in place. He heard it crack and felt a movement. He looked at it before working on breaking her stitches. 

_It's just moved out of the socket. Easy enough._

He jumped back, turned, and slammed his shoulder into the wall. It moved back into place and Gon ignored the slight pain as he ran up the wall and flipped to avoid Machi's next attack. Machi did a backbend and kicked over, almost hitting her opponent. Gon was impressed, to say the least. It had only been a week since he had given her that advice and she had already put it to good use. 

He still had much more ability than her but he did end up deciding that he would increase his power to 21% during their next spar. He dodged for as long as he could without making it obvious. He wanted her to get as much training in as she could. They were leaving in a week so they wouldn't be able to do this for a while. He was also very excited for his next fight. He had a feeling that fighting Chrollo properly would be much more challenging than their usual sessions. He didn't use jan ken rock for any of these fights. He didn't need to, it wouldn't do them any good. That attack was a bit too powerful for training even if it was lowered. 

They continued, Gon moving faster than he normally would. That's something that needed definite work for her. Her stamina was not great, she was adept at short battles that didn't involve much movement for long. She was good at long-lasting fights so long as she didn't do much moving. This would be good training to start her on and it would prolong the battle more. Typically his and Machi's spars would last one to one and a half hours. He didn't expect this one to last that long. In a real battle Machi could use more stamina than she actually had and end up more tired than necessary. In a training fight, she would not do the same. He wouldn't make her keep going too far past her limits either. 

Gon bounced around the room as if he was weightless. He made it look so easy and Nobunaga was getting irked by it again.

"Come on Machi! Show the stupid twerp what you're made of!"

Machi shot him a quick glare before turning back to the fight she was certain to lose. She knew exactly what he was going to tell her when they finished and she could tell he was going faster than normal. She was never able to fully keep up but now it was all she could do to counter his attacks at all. Gon noticed her struggling and slowed down slightly. He jumped around her stitches and kicks for a good 57 minutes before he slapped her back lightly. 

"Gotcha. Okay so, stamina. That's my only concern for you, you need to increase your stamina."

She nodded while catching her breath. She didn't seem mad by any extremes but she definitely wasn't excited about having to do stamina training. Gon took another drink of his water, not out of breath yet, but getting dehydrated. Chrollo stepped up to the platform and tossed his coat to the side. He summoned his book and flipped through the pages, looking for an ability that could prove useful against Gon. Gon was examining Chrollo and still couldn't decide on a level of power that would be appropriate. 

"Chrollo, what power level do you want me at?"

Chrollo seemingly ignored the question for a few seconds before he tapped his page and looked up, smirking.

"Go no higher than 80%. That's an order."

Gon looked worried but warily nodded. That was not what he thought Chrollo would say. In past battles, he had used 50-60% but he hadn't used over 70% on any of them. Even the others looked surprised. Gon despite not being sure this was a good idea, was not going to deny the request. They all left him in charge during these training sessions. If he thought it was enough he would end it quickly. Gon was well aware that Chrollo was undeniably the strongest one of the phantom troupe members, the only difference was nobody had ever seen Gon fight Chrollo at this level. They had also never seen Chrollo use his nen whilst fighting Gon.

They were all planning to paying a lot more attention to this fight than the other two. Chrollo was flipping through pages while keeping one hand on the page he saw earlier. Gon was stretching in preparation as well. If he was going to be using 70-80% then this would prove to be a challenge if it lasted long enough. Gon was both excited and nervous about this training. It would definitely be the first time he got a proper workout. This was sure to be fun whether or not he had a chance to use nen properly. He might even be able to use rock. Shalnark stopped them just as they were both getting ready to fight. 

"Hold on, I want to get the others."

They obliged and waited for him to return with the others. They had all backed away from what was sure to be destruction as much as they could. This only encouraged Gon more. He was well aware of his own limits and had a pretty good grasp of everyone else's. The issue was, the more power he used, the less control he had. Not all the time, but after so long he could potentially lose control. Despite his reluctance to hurt his friend, Gon had no intention of holding back any more than he was asked to. If the boss orders something he is obligated to obey right? 

Gon and Chrollo returned to their ready positions and got ready to fight. Gon had never used one specific strategy against him so Chrollo had no idea what to expect. All he knew is that Gon never made the first move. So he had an opportunity if he followed his plan to the tee. Gon, however, made the first move. He was behind his opponent faster than any of them could see. The focus it would take to see the movements would be difficult to hold. Luckily for them, they were entranced by what they were going to see happen. 

Gon flipped Chrollo backward, but unlike in the other fights, this wasn't one hit and we're done. If Gon was hit then it would be over, but so long as Chrollo could stand, it was fair game. The latter got up and kept his cool, thinking up a new strategy as he hopped around the abundance of attacks. 

_Gon has never instigated the first attack during training as far as I can tell. That must mean he is taking this as seriously as I am. I will just have to wing it, no strategy will fool him._

Chrollo took his thoughts into account as he flipped through his book and found the ability he wanted. It was a simple ability, highly increased speed and agility. It would certainly come in handy against an opponent like Gon. He weaved his way around countless attacks, all the while still looking for a good offensive ability he could use against Gon. 

_Chrollo has kept his book open this whole time. He must need it for the ability to work._

Gon knew what his plan was and he intended to make it work. Chrollo was a worthy adversary and Gon acknowledged this as he had dodge with much more care than usual. He was good at deflecting his own attacks back on him. His only issue, Gon noted, was that he relied on the same moves in different patterns. That would surely be his downfall. 

Chrollo finally found an ability near the end of his book that he thought he could use against Gon well. If Gon was an enhancer then his ability was mainly enhancing strength and speed, so all Chrollo had to do was make those things useless. This ability had been stolen from a hunter he met before he made the troupe. Once activated the user would be covered in a protective barrier. It can't be held for long but it should last long enough for him to land a hit. Chrollo activated the ability and didn't try to dodge the next punch that was thrown at him. 

As Gon's fist connected with his face Chrollo didn't so much as flinch. He smiled and moved in for his own attack. He had maybe five minutes at most to achieve this. He had to be efficient. Gon might not be able to do anything with his strength but his speed was still helpful. Dodging attacks was fun for Gon, it kept him on his toes, but a constant onslaught of them got tiring. But his stamina was high so he would be okay. He just had to wait until Chrollo switched abilities. 

He lasted for seven minutes, longer than usual. He switched to an ability that should shock Gon long enough for him to land a hit. He activated Kurapika's chains. Just as he had wanted, Gon froze, not quite long enough to land an attack but he froze. He had caught him by surprise, so that was something. That was progress, at this rate, Chrollo would be sure to land a hit on Gon at some point. Gon had no intentions of losing to anyone just yet.

He wasn't going to lose to an ability that he knew he was strong enough to beat. If he could do it against the original user then he could do it now. He was going to stick to his plan. He just had to disorient him and get the book from Chrollo. The smirk that grew onto Gon's face was a dead giveaway that he had a plan. Everyone watching only grew more focused as they saw the chains flying through the air. The sharp edges lashing towards Gon, being dodged with ease. 

He broke one, then a second, then the final three. Chrollo scowled as his plan failed but didn't stop trying. He activated Hisoka's ability next. This was his best chance of winning, Hisoka landed a hit on Gon if he remembered correctly. He was confident in this attempt. 


	21. Chapter Twenty-One

Chrollo launched a playing card at Gon and was dodged easily. Gon wasn't ready for that attack but it was easy to avoid. He weaved away from the bungee gum that was launched towards his feet. 

Hisoka's ability. That's going to make this a lot harder. 

He was still determined to get close enough to take the book. He had a new plan now. If he was using Hisoka's bungee gum all he needed was to let him attach one. Chrollo would most likely pull him towards him and then throw him back. By that logic, Gon would have plenty of time to grab the book. He skillfully dodged all of the attacks, making sure he looked like he was getting tired. It could make sense since he had been fighting all morning so his plan should work. He went around a few more getting slightly slower and sloppier with each movement.

Chrollo took notice of different movements and took the opportunity that he saw. He flung one strand on bungee gum directly at Gon and then another one before he would have time to dodge in his state. It connected with Gon's wrist and Gon pretended very well to try and break it. He let his breathing get a little heavier and a scowl make its way across his face. Chrollo smirked, confidence dripping from his entire being. Just as predicted, Chrollo pulled him towards himself. Gon rolled his eyes back slightly to look weaker. 

Just as he was about to fly back around Chrollo when he snatched the book from Chrollo's open hand. He laughed as he closed the book. Chrollo's eyes noticeably widened before he focused back on trying to get his book back. This was far too entertaining for everyone else. Nobody had ever been able to take his book from him. Gon held the book tightly in his left hand while he kept his right open for offense and defense. The first thing Chrollo attempted was to get his book back by brute force but was unsuccessful. Gon hopped around his hands finally getting a reaction from him. He was scared now. He didn't have his book so his attacks were left to regular nen and pure strength. Gon, being the nice person he is, didn't lower his power in the slightest. He wanted Chrollo to be stronger and for that to happen he had to be challenged. All in all, Gon was really just enjoying the exertion of his power. 

He kept the book in a firm grip, careful not to give an opening for Chrollo to take it back. He went back on the offense, attacking without any obvious strategy. He took an opportunity where any opening presented itself. Chrollo was getting more and more exhausted from trying to keep up without his book. He was the strongest of the original phantom troupe members but Gon was on a new level. The fact that he could barely keep up while he wasn't at full strength was a new feeling to him. 

_He's only twelve, what are we supposed to do when he's older and stronger, there's no way we can control him then._

Chrollo blocked out his thoughts, not having the time to think. He focused all of his remaining energy on blocking and attempting simple counterattacks. His moves were getting considerably sloppier, but that was to be expected. Fighting Gon without your own special nen ability, and at 80% no less, was bound to wear someone down. Chrollo was a determined man and no matter how many hits he took, he only had to land one. He only needs one opening, one, and he would take it. Gon wanted to see what his opponent would do if given an option, so he twisted backward, into what would seem like a spin move. Chrollo saw his opening and bolted. His power and vigor were thoroughly drained, but he was giving it his all. He hadn't been this tired since he fought the eldest Zoldyck men. It was fun if he was being honest. 

Gon smiled as he tossed the book and jumped over Chrollo's swinging arm. He used his back as momentum as he jumped from his hands to his feet, across the room. Chrollo got up on shaky legs and got back into a fighting stance. Gon tossed his book to him and walked away. His breathing was noticeably heavier, though not by much. 

"I think that's enough for one day."

Chrollo would have responded but he was preoccupied with getting oxygen back into his lungs. Gon handed a water bottle over to him and went over to where the others had been watching. He was barely even out of breath. 

"How is that even possible? You have to be some sort of freak of nature, or.. or robot, or," 

"Before you continue that assessment, need I remind you that I did spend a good chunk of my life in the forest on an island? The fact that I'm Ging Freecs' kid could have something to do with it too."

"Isn't he a hunter that nobody can find anywhere?"

"Yeah... Oh well, that's somebody else's problem. I don't care enough to look anymore."

They gave him a skeptical look before moving away from that particular topic of discussion. 

"But still, you're just a kid, that doesn't explain how you can be that powerful."

"Hmm... I have no clue."

They threw their arms up in frustration, Chrollo excluded, he was laying on the ground. Chrollo didn't get up to calm the group, but he did nonetheless. 

"He is and he hasn't done anything unnatural to his abilities that he knows of, I checked. There isn't a thing we can do about it. Just accept it." 

Most of them already had accepted the fact that Gon was stronger than them but there were a couple that would probably always struggle with that knowledge. Gon took another drink of his water before speaking again. 

"Don't worry so much about it. With enough training, you will all surpass me and then you can help me train a little better. It's a win-win." 

He had a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Most likely trying not to seem like he was patronizing them. Nobunaga was still jealous but there was nothing he could do about it at the moment. Besides, now he knows what makes him upset. He can learn more about him stemming from that and he'll take it. The rest of them went about their training with each other while Gon walked with Chrollo back to the house to shower. Gon debated going back to using minimal force and speed. He could, they couldn't stop him, but there wouldn't be any benefit in it for him either. He hopped into the shower and washed the sweat and debris from his body. He could feel his muscles relaxing at the hot water hitting them. He showered quicker than usual, opting to observe the others' training. 

Feitan and Nobunaga weren't arguing anymore, instead physically fighting, 'training.' Chrollo leaned over towards Gon's ear to speak.

"Should I stop them? There is no fighting between troupe members and they are very angry right now." 

Shaking his head Gon replied.

"No, if it gets out of hand I'll stop it. This will be good for both of us to observe I think. Them both being mad changes their fighting styles. It will give me an idea of what buttons to press later on."

Chrollo should have been upset at the idea of one of his members manipulating another but he trusted Gon. Some might say he trusted him a bit too fast but it's Gon. How can you not trust him?


	22. Chapter Twenty-Two

Their fight never escalated like Chrollo thought it might. Gon watched as they got sloppy and less intricate with their moves. Feitan was relying heavily on his smaller size and just running around to disorient Nobunaga. Nobunaga on the other hand was using his en to know where Feitan was. Either way, Feitan was still fast enough to dodge all of his attacks. They both got tired and gave up eventually. It was inevitable really, they were using brute force and speed without a well-thought-through plan.

Gon drank the remainder of his water bottle and shook his head at their antics. He did a few more basic training moves before he went to his room to catch up on his reading. After he made it back to his room, he grabbed his book and went out to sit on the couch. He read a chapter and a half before the others came in asking for food. Gon sighed as he marked his place. He shushed them before heading to the kitchen. Upon opening the fridge he realized that he would need to go to the market soon. 

He grabbed out an onion, tomato, olive oil, rigatoni, garlic, red pepper, and oregano. He made a minimalistic noodle dish for them. He set it on the counter and announced the completion of the meal. The troupe entered the kitchen and ate the food at the table. Gon walked out of the room and turned around to peek his head around the corner again. 

"Shalnark, you need to go to the market today after you eat. Take someone with you so you actually get what we need."

Gon threw a list at him and left to go finish the chapter he was reading before he could get interrupted again. He was determined to finish Little Women before the weeks' end. At the rate he was going he wouldn't be able to in the few days he had left though, so he needed some of his distractions out of the way. He sent Shalnark who would most likely take Nobunaga or Feitan which would keep the other quiet. Machi and Chrollo never really bothered him and neither did Franklin or Kortopi. His only issue would possibly be Phinks at that point. He most likely wouldn't need anything without the other two to egg him on but it was still a possibility. He would think of something if he needed to but until then he was just going to relax and read while he could. He heard the front door shut signaling that two of them had left to shop. 

He flopped unceremoniously onto his bed and read his book once more. He didn't honestly expect to get much reading done, but after almost two hours of dead silence, he got suspicious. Not only should the two of them be back by now, but he would have heard them come in. He wasn't too worried, they were more than capable of handling themselves. So, he finished the last two chapters in his book and tossed it haphazardly on the shelf. He walked out of his room and went into the living area to find a pacing Chrollo and Nobunaga, yelling Phinks, and meditating Shizuku. 

"What, praytell, did I miss?"

"Shalnark has been captured by Illumi Zoldyck. He is apparently not to be killed, but held captive until the person who hired the Zoldyck's calls them off."

Gon nodded his head and thought over it. 

"Okay so why didn't you just come to get me so we could go get him."

All eyes shot up to glare at the small boy. 

"What?"

He laughed like they were telling a funny story.

"Think about it," he said once his laughter died down.

"There are two places that he'd take him if they're just holding him. Either to the Zoldyck mansion because it's the safest place they know, or to a safe house somewhere that only they would know to look for. We split up, half to the mansion and half to this location."

He handed Machi a piece of paper with coordinates for what they could only assume was a safe house. Gon had a pretty good idea of what the plan was. Kurapika had most likely paid Illumi to take them with the knowledge that Gon could find both these places. It's probably a trap, they've probably got people positioned in either location. The most sensible option would be to fight at the Zoldyck mansion so that's where Gon should go. He explained this to the rest of them and went on to ask who wanted to go with him and who wanted to go to the safe house. 

Chrollo decided that they should all go with him and send one person to an unknown location.

"But who can we send"

Franklin chose that moment to walk in, offering to do it with Kortopi. They argued about numbers and safety for a few minutes before they agreed to send the two of them. They had to wait for Feitan to get back before they could go. 

Normally he could be patient but at the moment his friend could be in danger or being tortured for any kind of information. Not only did that piss him off, but he was also hyper-aware of the fact that it was kind of his fault. He shouldn't have sent them out on his errands. Before he could drop himself down that rabbit hole, Feitan walked through the door. They explained their plan to him on their way to the cars. Gon would have rather run but not everyone could keep up with him and Feitan. Although at the rate, he was losing control of his emotions, he doubted that he would have enough restraint to slow down or use limited power. 

They stopped a little ways away from kukuroo mountain. Gon focused his en on the mountain ahead of them. He didn't sense any immediate threats, not that that meant they wouldn't appear out of seemingly thin air. He nodded and they headed towards the top of kukuroo mountain. Gon remembered the last time he climbed this trail. he was trying to rescue Killua so they could find his dad, now he was rescuing Shalnark so they could play connect four and commit unnecessary crimes. It was ironic if you thought about it, though Gon didn't have the capacity to at the moment. 


	23. Twenty-Three

The sun was setting when the group finally reached the entrance to the Zoldyck mansion. Gon had felt a little bad about having to knock Canary out, but not enough to slow him down in the slightest. The doorman/butler was adamant about them not surviving the beast within so Gon rolled his eyes with an angry huff and shoved the testing gates open within ten minutes. 

"C'mon that wasted too much time. Who knows what those sick people are doing to him. They just can't kill him, that doesn't exclude the torturous things they do to their own children."

Meanwhile, the old man was sputtering something about master Zeno taking longer than that to open the gates. The group set on their way to get Shalnark again and made it about halfway before Chrollo got a call. They stopped long enough for him to have a quick conversation with the interruption. Gon tapped his foot impatiently. He wanted to get this done and get out, dealing with another one of Killua's best friend speeches was not something he felt like doing. Chrollo put the phone back into his coat pocket and they continued on their way. 

"That was Franklin. He and Kortopi made it to the second location. Nobody was there, it was a trap that they would have been caught in had they not expected one." 

Gon nodded as he half-listened to his boss, half-listened to their surroundings, and spoke. 

"I figured it would be. They would have expected me to come here since I'm familiar with the territory and they want me captured or saved or something dumb."

Although his words sounded frustrated, his voice sounded little more than annoyed. They continued to trudge upwards to the Zoldyck mansion. Surprisingly enough, they didn't stumble upon any traps. Feitan had been unusually quiet too. He would typically be quiet but he hadn't spoken at all. Gon fell back a bit to speak with him. 

"What's wrong with you, you haven't spoken a word?"

"It's. my fault... that Shalnark. got captured."

"One, it's his own fault. Two, there's nothing to do about it now."

Gon would've been more cheerful and inspiring but at that very moment, he was fuming and doing his very best to keep that rage contained. None of them had started inching away so he must be doing a decent job thus far. He was too. Up until they got to the mansion he was doing great. The others didn't have much of a clue that he was irked. As soon as he saw the doors and the servants in front of them he remembered. He remembers everything that he did for Killua, to get him back, to protect him, and to be his friend. He remembered the training. Remembered the hunter exam. Remembered Greed Island. Remembered the Heaven's arena fights and training. Remembered his best friend leaving him. 

His emotions were finally taking over. His bloodlust was oozing out of him. The group collectively backed up as Gon glared ahead of them at the group of butlers. 

"Sorry kid, we feel bloodlust all the time so that little show doesn't scare us."

Gon almost smiled, that was almost amusing. 

"I guess it's a good thing I'm not acting than isn't it."

He moved quickly along with Feitan who took on the west wing of butlers. They weren't even worth calling a challenge. Gon didn't miss a beat, continuing forward into the mansion. He got his bloodlust under somewhat control but the pure rage was still evident on his face. Most would say he didn't have a right to be angry but it was ridiculous. Killua had left _him_. It was not the other way around. Gon had only gone somewhere that he was wanted. And then when those weren't people he approved of he can just come back. IT WAS PAINFULLY OBVIOUS THAT HE WOULD JUST LEAVE ONCE GON WAS 'GOOD' AGAIN SO WHY SHOULD HE BE! HE LIKED IT HERE, HE HAD FRIENDS! FRIENDS THAT DIDN'T LEAVE HIM BECAUSE SOMEONE ELSE SAID THEY SHOULD! 

Gon was so angry it wouldn't even be an exaggeration to say he saw red. Once the group roamed the house long enough to find a singular butler Gon asked in a sickly sweet voice, that didn't match his face whatsoever, where Shalnark was. When he didn't get an answer from her he shoved her against the wall, pinning her there. 

"You can tell me or I can kill you."

"Normally.. I'd pick death but my orders are to send you to where they're keeping the prisoner... In the dungeons on the left, third cell."

Gon nodded slightly to his group and went down to the dungeons. He found the dungeon and ripped the bars open for Shalnark to get through. He bent them a little more than necessary so that his friend wouldn't get electrocuted too. 

"Gon, you all have to get out of here. It's a trap."

Gon didn't even respond, instead turning and heading back upstairs. He expected Killua and his friends or family to be awaiting them outside or near the door, not just out of the way of the door. It was even friends and family. He really must be desperate to get his family involved. 

"Gon you have to come back. This is where you belong, with Kurapika and Leorio. We're your friends, not those criminals."

"Oh, that is rich coming from a murderer. You have no idea who my friends are. You left remember."

"I had to, it wasn't -"

"IT WASN'T WHAT? YOUR FAULT! GUESS WHAT, IT WAS! YOU DID NOT HAVE TO LEAVE BECAUSE BISCUIT TOLD YOU TO! IT WAS YOUR CHOICE! After everything, I did for you, with you. I fought your butlers and family to save who I thought was my best friend. And what did you do? You left. You ran away. You COWARD!" 

His bloodlust was now seeping out of him, making everyone step back just a little. 

Gon took a deep breath calming his voice before continuing. 

"And either way, you're just going to leave as soon as I return anyway so why should I? I will only lose all of these people. These are my friends, not you guys, who did nothing to stop him."

The calm anger in his voice as he finished and turned to leave the house is what alerted Chrollo to the aura emitting from him instead of the voice. 

"Gon! If you're going to leave then you'll have to fight your way out."

"Okay."

Chrollo decided that now would be a great time to get everyone out of there. Gon always argued against a fight. When he didn't, it could only mean trouble. He hadn't initiated a fight since Pitou. He had not agreed with them silently but now he seemed content with the idea of it.


	24. Twenty-Four

Killua, despite the clear warning in Gon's eyes, stood in his way. He had his family, minus Milluki, backing him up so it couldn't go too wrong. Kurapika and Leorio were both there too. 

Gon didn't even look slightly anxious, just furious. Chrollo took notice of the fact that he had just a little less angry than he was when fighting Pitou. He was truly sick of them bothering him. He was practically a fountain of bloodlust at this point but none of them visibly looked frightened of this, except Leorio. Their body language told a different story. They were all just a bit stiffer than before. Gon wasn't fully confident that he could take all of them on by himself, but he knew that he was going to be the main target. 

Even if he didn't go with them, he was going to make sure the rest of them could get out. He would catch up soon enough anyway. He released a bit more bloodlust before backing up slightly. He just barely quirked his head towards the door before charging forward. The only person to notice the prior movement was Shizuku, who had yet to take her eyes off the scene in front of them. She pulled back just enough to mutter her theory, which was correct, to the others without tipping their opponents off.

Gon fought his way through Kurapika, Leorio, and Killua, making his way towards the next easiest target. Heading for Kalluto, he watched as Silva tilted ever so slightly indicating his next movement. Gon pivoted his foot at the last step towards the Zoldyck child, twisting to face the Zoldyck head instead. The look of shock on the elder's face was enough to make anyone laugh under different circumstances. He opened just enough space for one maybe two people to sneak past them. Phinks and Nobunaga had joined the fight by now so they weren't options. Feitan was about to and Shizuku didn't look too far behind him. Chrollo sent Shalnark with Machi, occupying Zeno with an attack. They made it out and Gon continued to fight Silva. Nobunaga went after Kalluto after Gon switched targets. Phinks was fighting with Feitan against Kalluto and Illumi. Gon's Ja-janken scissors were blocked by Silva's nen, shooting at the prior group. It didn't hit anyone, lucky them, but it annoyed him nonetheless.

Gon took the opportunity to jump back and have the quickest of conversations with the boss. 

"Get everyone out, you know how powerful those two are, this whole place is probably gonna come down."

While he would have liked to help, he knew that Gon was right, this house was probably going to come crashing down. Chrollo only nodded as he gave the near-silent order to Feitan and Shizuku to leave. Feitan didn't argue as he used gyo to see the aura pouring out of Gon. He grabbed Shizuku, who had been waiting behind for an order, and pulled her along to where Shalnark and Machi were. 

They weren't far from the mansion so Feitan took an educated guess as to how bad the damage was going to be and led them farther out. Once they were a definite safe distance away, they waited for the others to join them. Eventually, Phinks and Nobunaga joined them, Chrollo not seeming to follow yet. 

"What happened?"

"Uh, well, Chrollo and Gon are fighting Zeno and Silva right now. I knocked the little girl out and Illumi was taken out by one of Gon's extra attacks."

"So, he still fighting? He is angry?"

"Yeah, I mean the kid looks scary, feels scary, his aura is horrifying. He is one powerful little boy, I'd hate to be his enemy now or ever."

"Oh? So you'll get to see the damage he causes then."

"Yeah, I guess, though I don't really want to if the boss doesn't get out of there soon."

Chrollo didn't have an exit. Gon's patience was wearing thin but he wasn't going to do anything until Chrollo got himself out. Illumi was going to stir soon and he needed to distract Zeno. Gon couldn't think of anything that would get him out in time. He thought about it as he diligently dodged the martial arts moves going his way. He took the opportunity he could find to grab Silva's leg and throw him towards the eldest Zoldyck. The impact on bone hitting bone created a resounding thud, effectively giving Chrollo an escape route. 

Gon nodded and Chrollo sped off to find the others. Once he found them they started walking down the hill waiting for the definite sound of someone ending the fight. They could have kept going down the mountain but Chrollo stopped to turn around. If that fight was going to continue, he was likely the only one who was going to be able to tell the difference between Gon ending it or the Zoldyck men. Anticipation and anxiety weighed heavily on the group as they waited for something to fall. 

Shalnark was still a little out of it but watched intently nonetheless. Phinks and Nobunaga were watching, partially in disbelief and partially in worry. Chrollo watched as the house fell in on itself, crumbling into pieces with a mind-numbing noise. Gon hadn't emerged after a good forty-five seconds, which didn't seem overall worrisome to the others but Shalnark, Chrollo, and Feitan were all incredibly anxious at that point. 

Gon watch as the two got up sneering at him. They looked around quickly finding that Chrollo was gone. 

"Got your friend out did you? Now you'll have to die all alone. Pity."

"Huh, arrogant as per usual. You assassins, never know when to surrender do you? Pity."

Scoffing, the pair leapt into the air, activating their abilities. Gon watched as a nen dragon flew towards him. He could've run, could've dodged, but he decided to try to counter. In retrospect, probably not his brightest moment, but hey. He charged his ja-janken again, using rock to hopefully overpower the creature. He braced himself so the force wouldn't throw him too far after the fact. He watched as the brightness collided with his own glowing nen. He let it go just slightly forward to, in theory, take the brunt of the attack. The house shook, as that attack and Silva hit him full force. He had forgotten about him in his focus on the eldest member of the family. 

Gon was convinced that he was going to die then and there. He accepted it, that was okay. The others had gotten out so he was okay with it. When he was still alive he was surprised, and to be conscious too, he was lucky. Lucky and surprised, yes, still infuriated though? Absolutely. They might have done some damage but he was about to do ten times more to them. 

"Silva get the children underground, I'll hold him off for now."

Nodding the man grabbed Illumi and Kalluto. He raced off, returning, not two minutes later. It wasn't a secret that Zeno Zoldyck was getting old, in fact, it was even becoming noticeable in his work. But right now, he was starting to have trouble keeping up with the young man before him. Silva returned and immediately started attacking too. Gon smirked, showing his teeth as he let go. His morals, his worry, his fear, his self-control, gone. Not for long, just long enough. He sent a ja-janken rock that was a plethora more powerful than the last. The two Zoldycks were stuck. Not only were they stood together, but they were surrounded by rubble. They were literally stuck between a rock and a hard place. They were going to block, they had to, but the chances were that an attack that looked that powerful, would kill the user and them. 

That idea didn't stop Gon as his eyes darkened further and he struck. The house came crumbling down around them as the thud of bodies hitting the floor was clouded by the currently caving in house. 

"Well, that was definitely Gon. He was the one to end the fight."


	25. Twenty-Five

"Boss, it's been ten minutes, should we go look for him?"

"No, he'll emerge within the next ten minutes, or we assume him dead and leave."

Phinks exchanged worried looks with a few other members before anxiously turning his attention back to the house's remains.

Groaning, he lightly pushed the pieces of rubble off of himself. He stood up, ducking so as not to hit his head on an upper layer of rocks and brick. He could see Zeno, still unconscious, across the ground. He pushed through a little more rubble to be able to get some actual light in the room.

He's still breathing.

Gon sighed, he should've hit harder, saved him what would probably be later trouble for him. He lifted rubble haphazardly off of him and stumbled his way through the broken home. He shoved a particularly large piece of rock to the side and continued looking for a way out. He was tired, power beyond exhausted but he was getting annoyed. There should've been some way to get through by now. After a rough ten minutes of squinting through the dark open patches of the house and Gon was done. He sent one large chunk of the wall flying upwards with a punch and jumped out of the house before it could fall back down on him. He hopped around the falling rock of the mountain and made his way to where his friends were. He hoped he was right, his nose was undoubtedly broken and bleeding.

He had a limp that he couldn't fully hide. The femur in his right leg was crooked and he didn't take the time to try and put it back somewhat. He was only showing the injury slightly, his limp almost not there. To be completely honest and blunt, it hurt like a bitch, but what could he do until they got back. He ran as fast as he could, which was still faster than most people could on a normal basis. He found them not too long after that. They were stood staring at the still crumbling house. He walked up to them, doing his best to hide the injuries he could. Their attention immediately diverted to the small greenette as they noticed the extra presence.

"Gon!"

_Shalnark? He's still awake?_

Gon smiled a large smile and nodded his head towards the path.

"C'mon we should get going. They might wake up."

"I seriously doubt that, but let's go then."

Phinks was still staring at Gon in mild shock. The majority of the troupe had never seen Gon using more power than absolutely needed, but they got to see a whole new level of that now. At least at this point they would believe them on the power level. Gon wasn't as tired as he was now when he fought Pitou, which didn't make sense without proper explanation. His theory was that after fighting with the ant he wasn't knocked out so he still had the adrenaline to keep him going at full ability. Now he was fully aware of any and all injuries without anything killing the pain. He coughed from dust inhalation. It blanked his pain receptors for a few seconds of relief before came back full force. He would have to have Machi look over him when they returned.

"So, you are really that strong. It's not just that much more during training."

It wasn't a question anymore. Nobunaga was just stating his now proven capabilities.

"We told.. you."

Gon only nodded, focused on pushing back the pain shooting through his leg, back, and shoulder.

Feitan was walking more towards the back with Phinks, who was carrying Shalnark. He was going to bring up an observation but Phinks brought it up first.

"Is he... is he limping?"

"Yes. His back is stiff too."

"Maybe he got hurt when the building went down on him."

They nodded in agreement and watched him a little closer. He wasn't losing any speed compared to the rest of them but now that they honed in on it, he was definitely moving differently. They would have Machi take a look when they got back.

Gon was really wishing he had the adrenaline boost like last time, especially because he didn't get out of the collapse before it could hurt him too. This sucked. He hated being injured. He had worked on increasing strength as much as he could on Whale Island, which wasn't very much, for that reason. He wanted to make sure he didn't get hurt often, it was so dumb when he did. He couldn't do anything properly, it was like being sick but worse. He was sure he was grimacing as his willpower to ignore it ran dry.

"Gon are you hurt?"

_Dang it Shizuku._

"No, I'm fine. Probably just a little sore y'know."

Nobunaga took that as confirmation to test that out against Gon. He raced towards the latter his fists ready. Gon would have typically stopped him or dodged before he got close enough to attack but this time he didn't even try to get out of the way until he had to. He didn't try to counter either he just hopped out of the way on his left leg. Almost running into Machi, who he avoided by twisting out of the way.

"He is worse.. than I thought."

"Machi you probably should work with what you can right now."

Gon huffed and turned around.

"I'm fine, really you guys."

"You almost let Nobunaga best you. That is absolute crap."

Only rolling his eyes at Phinks, he sat down and let Machi check him for outer injuries. Not twenty minutes later she spoke.

"I can't do anything. Not here at least, he's got a broken femur, shoulder, twisted ankle, probably a concussion, and a distorted spine."

"Dude, how did you even make it out of the rubble?"

"It wasn't hard, just ignoring the pain until we got back. Then I would have had Machi figure out what to do about it. I figured that she would need actual equipment to fix bones and my spine apparently."

"You are not human."

"Go to sleep Shalnark."

Phinks was still carrying him on his back and Feitan snickered up at the two. Shalnark rolled his eyes but laid his head back down. They continued on their way to the present base. Although at this rate, they were probably going to have to move soon. That would definitely be a pain. Once they returned Gon was sat on a kitchen stool while Machi went to get her medical supplies. He sat still, phone in hand as Machi worked on his leg. Her nen made it possible not to have to use crutches and casts and just heal the bone itself. **(This is probably not accurate but I'm an exaggerator at the very least.)**

She worked slowly, making sure that each fragment was put back together. Once she finished she started on his shoulder and ankle. Those were less crushed so they didn't take as long but the spine was going to take a while. She wasn't as familiar with the way the spine needed to go so she needed a reference. She looked up a picture of the human spine and worked off that. It wasn't a perfect reference but it would work. It took almost two hours just to reconnect pieces that had been removed. Gon grimaced every now and again but kept a straight face for most of the time. When Machi started to actually put the spine back into a straight position he clenched his jaw with squinted eyes. It clearly hurt but it wasn't until his crushed phone was dropped that they realized how much pain he probably was in.

"Okay, just one more time. Do you want me to countdown, or you can hold on to something or someone?"

"I'm alright, I'd probably break whatever it was anyway."

He was breathing fairly heavily and preparing himself for the next wave. This was probably going to hurt worse since it was his lower back. He was ready as he was going to be. He was about to give her the go-ahead when Phinks stepped up beside Gon.

"I am going to regret this. This is when Uvo would have been helpful."

He held his hand out to Gon who only shook his head. He didn't move his hand but nodded to tell Machi to go ahead. Regret. Instant, painful, regret. Gon let out a scream so loud and pained that shook the house. He grabbed onto Phinks' hand, who in turn grunted at the force. His eyes bulged as he looked from Gon to a laughing Shalnark. Once she was done, Gon released Phinks' hand apologizing multiple times while Machi healed it too. She worked Gon's nose back into place finally and everyone was set back to their original bone structure.

"Never again am I letting a mansion fall on me. Screw that."

The group laughed as Gon stretched his back and leg out. He went so far as to do a backbend. The entire group heard his back and shoulder pop. He twisted his foot towards his mid-back, cracking it on the ground. It popped loudly and he got up, twisting his body as he went.


	26. Twenty-Six

After waking up the next morning Chrollo announced that they were going to have to move again. Too many people knew of their location. It was unfortunate but not a shock. Everything was packed within the next four hours and they were to set off the next day. Gon was throwing out foods that would spoil and making sure that there was at least enough left to hold over Phinks and Shalnark. Hangry people for thieves.

After making sure that there was near to no evidence of them ever being there, Gon went to make sure he had everything that he would need in the car in his backpack. He read through another one of his medium-length books before heading down to bother anyone else with his boredom. Upon making himself comfortable laying across Feitan and Phinks on the couch, arms spread across Machi's lap, he groaned and huffed until someone took his bait. Machi pushed his arms off her and went to sit in an armchair.

"Why? What are you doing right now?"

"I'm bored Phinks, so I'm making it your problem."

Feitan laughed at the two of them before returning his attention to his phone. Phinks continued to try to force Gon off the pair.

"Oi, come on, you're sitting on my computer. I was watching a movie."

"But _I'm_ bored not you, that doesn't help me."

Phinks just decided to ignore him until he left the two alone. Feitan spoke next, cutting off Phinks' master plan.

"Why we don't train."

"Switch the middle words."

"Why. Don't we train?"

"Amazing. You're improving much faster now that you have someone correcting and teaching you. Anyways, training then?"

"No, I just fixed him. No."

"Exactly, fixed, he won't be able to land a hit to hurt me."

They were only going to do basic sparring so they could leave at the brink of dawn without being too tired to get up. Gon was excited even though he wasn't improving himself. Feitan couldn't fully understand how truly and completely selfless Gon was with his friends. He couldn't do that, even if he did consider everyone in the troupe as family. He dodged an oncoming attack before landing on his hands to kick upwards at Gon. He missed but was quick to counter Gon's rebuttal.

Gon flashed a cheeky smile and Machi rolled her eyes grumbling something about not helping him if he got hurt. He laughed like a small child as Feitan followed him outside. They had already taken down the training room so they would just have to work with the outdoors. Not that they cared all that much, they were leaving in less than fourteen hours anyway. They did basic sparring so Feitan did actually get to land a hit. Any normal person would be bored at having to hold back to fight and train but leave it to Gon to have fun because someone else is improving. Feitan wasn't complaining though. He was getting to improve anytime they fought or he corrected his Japanese. It was really impressive when one thought about it. Feitan wasn't the strongest in the troupe. He was powerful, sure but Phinks and Nobunaga, and even Chrollo were physically stronger than him. Not to mention Franklin. He was quick, small, agile, and had the nen to back him up.

Gon was strong, small, sharp, and had the nen to back him up. He was just better at everything Feitan did. Even deadly nen abilities powered by anger, Gon could do it better. Feitan wasn't bitter about it, in fact, it only made him and the others want to train harder. Back to the fight, Feitan was going to lose if he kept zoning out. Once they were both well warmed up, the two moved on to the actual strength training. Gon put on a pair of gloves that probably wouldn't help and Feitan went to punching. He would even throw in a kick occasionally.

Gon had his feet planted so that he wouldn't go flying as easily. They were backed with ko so either way, he'd stay still. After Feitan had successfully destroyed the gloves, they went back inside to bother Phinks. The two end up getting bored and going to Gon's room to practice Japanese. Once it started to get dark out and the two of them had felt the wave of tiredness wash over them they fell asleep. Franklin opened the door at two in the morning to get Gon, finding the two of them in there. He snapped a picture for glorious blackmail and went on with his set task.

They got into their three cars. Gon, Feitan, Phinks, and Shalnark were in a car together. Nobody stopped them or cared enough to switch the groups. That group could only prove to be trouble at some point but who cares. Phinks was driving so the others slept for most of the ride. Nobody really knew where they were headed but it needed to be somewhere they wouldn't be found and could still steal when needed. Shalnark was the first to wake up, looking out the window to see where they had ended up thus far. Gon and Feitan weren't far behind Shalnark but were procrastinating actually being productive.

Once they did, the group pulled over so Shalnark and Phinks could switch places. With Shalnark at the wheel, there was no calm. He drove like a maniac, it was fun. Chrollo called to tell them they were going to two cities outside of Yorknew City.

"Prastin City or Kririe?"

"Uhm.. Kririe."

"Relaxed place."  
  


When they got to the city itself they found a nice area they could stay in without causing incidents. They put up a place to train and a place to actually live in. They picked their rooms, Chrollo finding a comfortably sized nook in the attic. They built in different furniture in different rooms. After a few weeks, they all had a really happy environment to call home. This was going to be good for them. It was a plus that it was far away from the Zoldyck mansion. Gon was happy, felt like he belongs somewhere. His friends wouldn't be a hindrance anymore, so he didn't have to worry about anything extra until their next mission. Feitan was improving and the whole troupe was more confident now. They were all getting stronger, faster, better. This was the life that could make them happy. Even nobody else liked the methods.


End file.
